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AN  AVIATOR'S 
FIELD  BOOK 


Colonel  Oswald  Bolcke's  Last  Picture 


AN  AVIATOR'S 
FIELD    BOOK 

Being  the  Field  Reports  of  Oswald  Bdlcke, 
from  August  i,  191i,  to  October  28,  1916 


Teantslated  from  the  Germak  by 

ROBERT  REYNOLD  HIRSCH,  M.E. 

With  a  Foreword  bt 

JOSEPH  E.  RIDDER,  M.E. 


1917 
NATIONAL  MILITARY  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1919  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACINa 
PAGB 

Colonel  Oswald  Bolcke's  Last  Pic- 
ture   .     .     .     Frontispiece 

After  His  First  Victory  .     .:     .     82 

The  Enemy 's  Aeroplane  in  Ruins    33 

The  Master-Flier  and  His  Men  .     64 

Bolcke  and  His  Brother  Wil- 
helm,  September,  1914   .     •     65 

Donning  His  Flying  Dress    .     .     96 

An    Aviator    Bombarded    with 
Shrapnel 97 

Among  His  Comrades      .     .     .  144 

German  Marine  Aviators  on  a 
Field  Near  the  North  Sea    .  145 
7 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

rACINO 
FAQE 

Ready  for  the  Start    .     .     .     .160 

Bolc£e  and  His  Brother  Max  in 
:France  (August,  1916)   .     ,  161 

One  of  His  Last  Victims  .     .     .  182 

Starting  on  His  Last  Ride,  Octo- 
ber 28. 1916—5  p.  M.  .     .     .183 


8 


FOREWORD 


9 


FOREWORD 

By  Joseph  E.  Bidder 

An  unassuming  book,  still  one  of 
those  wMcli  grip  the  reader  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  When  the  author 
started  to  write  his  daily  impressions 
and  adventures,  it  was  to  keep  in 
touch  with  his  people,  to  quiet  those 
who  feared  for  his  safety  every  mo- 
ment, and  at  the  same  time  to  give 
them  a  clear  idea  of  his  life.  Without 
boasting,  modestly  and  naturally,  he 
describes  the  adventures  of  an  aviator 
in  the  great  World  War.  It  could 
well  serve  as  a  guide  to  those  who  are 
studying  aviation.  Although  he  has 
avoided  the  stilted  tone  of  the  school- 
master, still  his  accomplishments  as  a 
11 


FOREWORD 

knight  of  the  air  must  fascinate  any 
who  know  aviation.  For  the  aviators 
as  well  as  their  machines  have  accom- 
plished wonders.  They  are  rightly 
called  the  eyes  of  the  army — ^these 
iron-nerved  boys  who  know  no  fear. 
Admiral  Schley's  historic  words  after 
the  battle  of  Santiago :  ^^  There  will  be 
honor  enough  for  us  alP'  can  well  be 
said  of  the  aviators  of  all  nations  now 
at  war.  For  in  spite  of  all  enmity  the 
aviators  have  followed  the  knightly 
code  of  old  which  respects  a  good  op- 
ponent and  honors  him.  Captain 
Bolcke's  death,  after  his  meteoric  ca- 
reer, was  mourned  alike  by  friend  and 
foe.  Great  as  is  the  damage  done  by 
this  war,  horrible  as  is  its  devastation, 
it  has  acted  as  a  tonic  on  aviation. 
Before  the  war,  of  course,  there  had 

12 


FOREWORD 

been  some  achievements  of  note. 
Since  the  day  when  the  Wright 
brothers  announced  their  conquest  of 
the  air,  man  did  not  rest  till  the  prob- 
lem was  completely  solved.  And  this 
war,  which  continually  has  spurred 
man  to  new  murderous  inventions, 
has  also  seen  the  airplane  in  action. 
While  at  the  start  of  the  war  the  com- 
paratively few  airplanes  in  use  were 
employed  as  scouts,  a  few  months  saw 
them  fitted  with  machine  guns  and 
devices  for  dropping  explosives. 
Hand  in  hand  with  this  came  the 
rapid  development  of  the  airplane 
itself.  To-day  we  can  truthfully  say 
that  a  journey,  even  a  long  one,  by 
airplane  is  less  dangerous  than  an 
automobile  ride  through  a  densely 
populated  district.  But  one  thing  we 
13 


FOREWORD 

must  not  forget,  even  thougli  the  in- 
vention of  the  airplane  by  the 
"Wrights  is  an  American  one  (in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  Wrights  give  some 
credit  to  the  German  Lilienthal) 
the  Europeans  have  far  outstripped 
us  in  the  development  of  this  inven- 
tion. As  sad  as  it  is  to  say  it,  we  must 
admit  that  in  regard  to  aviation 
America  is  still  in  its  infancy.  Every 
European  nation  has  outdone  us. 
When,  in  the  summer  of  1916,  we  sent 
our  troops  to  Mexico  they  had  only 
six  old  machines  at  their  disposal. 
Instead  of  relying  on  these  for  infor- 
mation, General  Pershing  had  noth- 
ing but  anxiety  for  their  safety  every 
time  they  made  a  flight.  But  here,  too, 
if  all  signs  are  not  deceiving,  war  has 
helped  us  to  awake.  Aside  from  the 
14 


FOREWORD 

activity  in  our  training-schools  where 
thousands  of  our  young  men,  sur- 
passed by  none  anywhere,  are  being 
trained,  the  building  of  our  airplanes 
is  taking  a  great  step  forward.  The 
experience  gained  on  the  other  side  is 
helping  us  here.  At  first  it  was  the 
automobile  factory  that  furnished  the 
satisfactory  motor.  But  now  through 
the  war  the  airplane  factories  have 
made  enormous  progress  and  helped 
the  aviator  to  attain  new  marks  in 
speed,  reliability  and  endurance. 
While  this  war  lasts  every  improve- 
ment in  the  airplane  is  utilized  to 
make  added  destruction.  Yet  we  can 
not  doubt  that  after  the  war  we  will 
see  further  progress  made  in  the  air- 
plane in  the  peaceful  contests  which 
are  to  follow. 

16 


INTRODUCTION 


17 


INTRODUCTION 

By  Peof.  Hermann  BQlcke^  Dessau 

Oswald  B6lce:e  was  born  on  the 
19th  of  May,  1891,  in  Giebichenstein, 
a  suburb  of  Halle  on  the  Saale.  Here 
his  father  was  professor  in  the  high 
school.  His  sister,  Luise,  and  his  two 
brothers,  Wilhelm  and  Heinrich, 
were  born  before  him  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  Argentina.  There,  his  father 
had  had  his  first  position — rector  of 
the  German  Lutheran  School.  Later, 
Oswald's  brother  Martin  was  born 
in  Halle  and  his  brother  Max  in  Des- 
sau. Oswald  was  the  first  child  born 
to  the  Bolcke's  in  Germany.  On  the 
17th  of  July,  the  wedding-day  an- 
niversary of  his  parents,  he  was  bap- 
19 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

tized  by  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Edmund 
Hartung.  This  occurred  during  a 
vacation  spent  at  his  grandmother's, 
at  Freyburg-on-the-TJnstrut,  in  the 
same  church  in  which  his  mother 
J^d  been  baptized,  confirmed  and 
married,  by  the  same  minister.  After 
a  year  the  family  moved  to  Halle, 
where  he  could  romp  joyously  on  the 
Viktoria-platz  with  his  two  older 
brothers  and  his  sister. 

At  the  age  of  four  and  a  half  years 
he  moved  to  Dessau,  in  1895,  where 
his  father  had  received  a  position  as 
professor  in  the  Antoinette  School, 
connected  with  a  teachers  V  seminary. 
He  had  another  year  and  a  half  of 
joyous  play  in  this  city.  Then  he 
was  sent  to  school,  and  he  owed  his 
education  to  the  Friedrichs  gymnasi- 
£0 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

um  at  Dessau,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated in  the  Easter  of  1911.  When 
he  was  three  years  old  he  had  had  a 
severe  attack  of  whooping-cough. 
This  had  left  a  strong  tendency  to 
asthma,  and  was  the  cause  of  much 
trouble  at  school  through  illness.  In 
fact,  it  was  a  weakness  that  plagued 
him  with  continual  colds  even  to  the 
last  few  weeks  of  his  life.  While 
still  only  a  youth,  he  fought  this 
weakness  by  practising  long-distance 
running,  and  in  1913  he  won  second 
prize  in  the  Army  Marathon  at 
Frankfurt.  Aside  from  this,  he  was 
perfectly  healthy  and  was  always  ex- 
ercising to  keep  himself  so.  In  his 
boyhood  he  learned  how  to  swim 
while  resting  on  the  hands  of  his 
father,  who  was  holding  him  in  the 
81 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

waters  of  the  Mulde  River.  In  a 
few  moments,  to  the  amazement  of 
the  spectators,  he  was  paddling 
around  in  the  water  like  a  duck. 
This  is  an  example  of  his  courage 
and  self-confidence.  In  the  same  way 
he  rapidly  developed  into  a  skilled, 
fearless  mountain  climber  under  the 
tuition  of  his  father,  when,  as  a 
seventeen-year-old  boy,  he  was  first 
taken  on  such  trips.  In  the  Tux  dis- 
trict trips  were  taken  from  Lauers- 
bach,  and  the  more  difficult  the 
climb  the  more  it  pleased  Oswald. 
Only  when  there  was  real  danger 
was  there  any  joy  for  him.  His 
mother  will  never  forget  the  time 
she  witnessed  his  climbing  of  the 
Hollenstein.  She'  was  on  the  lower 
Krieralpe  watching.     When  it  was 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

time  to  descend  he,  taking  huge 
strides,  fairly  ran  down  the  slope 
covered  with  loose  slabs  of  stone  and 
waited,  standing  on  his  head,  for  his 
more  cautious  father  and  his  brother 
Martin. 

His  principal.  Dr.  Wiehmann,  said 
in  the  words  he  spoke  at  Oswald's 
burial:  ^^He  had  no  mind  for  books 
or  things  studious;  in  him  there 
burned  the  desire  for  action.  He 
was  energetic,  dynamic,  and  needed 
to  use  his  bodily  vigor.  Rowing, 
swimming,  diving  (in  which  he  won 
prizes  as  a  schoolboy),  ball  games  of 
all  kinds,  and  gymnastics,  he  choose 
as  his  favorite  occupations  before  he 
entered  his  profession  as  a  soldier. 
He  might  also  have  added  skating 
and  dancing,  for  he  was  a  very  grace- 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

ful  dancer.  His  favorite  studies 
were  History,  Mathematics  and 
Physics.  Treitschke's  Works  and 
the  reports  of  the  General  Staff 
were  the  books  he  said  he  liked  best 
to  read.  So  he  was  attracted  by  the 
military  life  while  still  young.  Be- 
fore even  his  eldest  brother  thought 
of  it,  Oswald  wrote  him  that  he  yearn- 
ed to  become  an  ofi&cer.  In  order  to 
fulfil  this  desire,  he  decided  while 
still  in  the  third  year  of  school  to 
write  to  His  Majesty  the  Kaiser  that 
he  would  like  to  be  an  officer,  and 
ask  for  admission  to  a  cadet  school. 
His  parents  did  not  learn  of  this  till 
his  wish  was  granted,  and  though 
putting  no  obstacles  in  his  path, 
decided  it  was  better  that  he  finish 
his  schooling  before  breaking  away 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

from  ^^home  life.''  After  this,  Ms 
parents  let  him  join  the  Telegraph- 
ers' Battalion  No.  3,  at  Koblenz,  as 
color  guard.  They  had  full  confi- 
dence in  him  and  his  strength  of 
character,  and  let  him  leave  home 
with  no  misgivings.  Thanks  to  his 
fine  physical  condition  and  his  en- 
thusiasm, the  King's  service  in  the 
beautiful  country  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Moselle  was  a  joy  to  him.  Here 
he  spent  many  pleasant  years,  rich 
in  friendship  and  making  ever 
stronger  the  family  ties.  After  fin- 
ishing his  schooling  as  a  soldier,  he 
returned  to  Koblenz  from  Metz  and 
in  the  fall  was  commissioned  as  a 
lieutenant. 

In  this  summer  he  and  his  brother 
Martin  had  the  adventure   on  the 
86 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Heiterwand,  in  the  Lechtal  Alps, 
which  many  heard  of.  He  and  his 
brother,  in  consequence  of  a  heavy 
fog,  lost  their  way  during  a  difficult 
climb  and  after  wandering  for  a  day 
and  a  night,  were  rescued  by  the 
heroic  sacrifices  of  Romanus  Walch, 
an  engineer,  and  several  guides.  It 
was  his  love  for  his  parents  that 
made  him  take  the  way  which  was 
impassable  except  in  a  few  spots,  in- 
stead of  taking  the  easier  south  way. 
On  that  day,  July  26th,  his  father 
was  to  have  charge  of  the  opening 
celebrations  at  the  Anhalt  Shelter, 
situated  on  the  northern  face  of  the 
Heiterwand.  He  felt  he  had  to  take 
the  shorter,  more  difficult  route  so 
as  not  to  keep  his  father  in  suspense 
on  the  day  of  the  festivities.  Even 
^6 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

if  lie  did  not  spare  his  parents  this 
anxiety,  still  he  and  his  brother  ar- 
rived shortly  after  the  celebrations, 
in  tattered  clothes  but  fresh  and 
shouting  in  spite  of  the  strain  and 
lack  of  food. 

He  wrote  with  great  satisfaction 
of  his  work  with  the  telephone  divis- 
ion and  later  with  the  wireless  divis- 
ion. Especially  he  liked  his  work  in 
the  Taunus,  the  Odenwald  and  the 
Eiffel,  with  its  varying,  beautiful 
scenery  which  pleased  the  nature- 
lover  in  him.  Service  with  the  wire- 
less took  him  to  Darmstadt  with  a 
battalion  from  Koblenz,  and  it  was 
there  that  he  first  came  into  contact 
with  the  aviation  corps.  They  had  a 
school  there  on  the  parade  grounds. 
He  silently  planned  to  join  them,  but 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

not  till  June,  1914,  was  he  able  to 
attain  his  heart's  desire,  when  he 
was  transferred  to  the  school  at  Hal- 
berstadt.  In  six  weeks  his  training 
was  completed,  and  on  the  day  be- 
fore the  mobilization  he  passed  his 
final  examination.  On  August  1st, 
on  his  way  to  Darmstadt,  where  he 
was  ordered,  he  visited  his  parents  in 
Dessau  for  an  hour.  After  they  had 
pushed  through  the  throng  around 
the  station  to  a  quiet  nook  inside,  he 
made  a  confession  to  them.  He  had 
not  been  in  the  wireless  service  at 
Halberstadt,  as  they  had  thought,  but 
had  instead  been  getting  his  training 
as  an  aviator.  He  had  kept  this 
from  them  so  that  he  should  not 
spoil  their  vacation  in  the  Alps  at 
Hinter-Tux.  This  loving  care  was 
28 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

remembered  in  this  stirring  moment 
and  lie  was  forgiven.  Still  they 
could  not  help  being  frightened  at 
the  dangerous  work  he  had  chosen; 
his  brother  Wilhelm  had  already 
joined  the  aviation  corps  of  the  Ger- 
man army  as  observer.  But  in  the 
face  of  the  tremendous  happenings 
of  those  days,  personal  care  and 
sorrow  had  to  be  forgotten.  So  they 
parted  with  him,  commending  him 
to  the  care  of  God,  who  rules  the  air 
as  well  as  the  earth. 

Though  eager  to  be  off  to  war,  he 
had  to  be  content  with  staying  in 
Darmstadt  and  Trier  with  the  re- 
serves. Finally,  on  the  1st  of  Sep- 
tember, he  was  allowed  to  fly  from 
Trier  to  the  enemy's  country.  His 
objective  was  Sedan.  On  the  way, 
29 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

he  landed  in  Montmedy  to  visit  his 
brother  Wilhelm,  who  was  an  ob- 
server with  the  aviation  section  sta- 
tioned there.  He  was  ordered  to 
stay  there  for  a  time,  and  had  the 
great  satisfaction  of  being  united 
with  his  brother,  for  the  division 
commander  ordered  him  to  report  to 
his  troop.  So  the  brothers  had  the 
good  luck  to  be  fighting  almost 
shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  Argonnes 
and  the  Champagne.  If  it  was  pos- 
sible, they  were  both  in  the  same 
machine:  Wilhelm  as  observer,  Os- 
wald as  pilot.  Each  knew  he  could 
trust  the  other  implicitly.  So  they 
were  of  one  heart  and  one  soul  in 
meeting  the  thousand  and  one  dan- 
gers of  their  daily  tasks. 


80 


FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF 

THE  WAR  TO  THE  FIRST 

VICTORY 


81 


O 
O. 


05 
<1 


Kl 


o 


f/2 


FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF 

THE  WAR  TO  THE  FIRST 

VICTORY 

Halberstadt^  August  1,  1914 
Where  I  will  be  sent  from  here,  I 
cannot  say  as  yet.  My  old  mobiliza- 
tion orders  commanded  me  to  report 
to  a  reconnoitering  squadron  in  the 
first  line,  as  commander.  But  these 
have  been  countermanded,  and  I  do 
not  know  anything  about  my  desti- 
nation. I  expect  to  get  telegraphic 
orders  to-day  or  to-morrow. 

Darmstadt,  August  3,  1914 

Arrived  here  safe  and  sound  after 

a  slight  detour  via  Cologne.     I  am 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

very  glad  that  I  can  spend  to-day 
and  to-morrow  with  B.  and  my  other 
old  friends.  Then  they  go,  and  only 
poor  I  must  stay  with  the  Eeserve. 
I  think  that  we  will  get  our  turn, 
too,  in  two  weeks. 

Trier^  August  29,  1914 
Arrived  here  safely.  Myself  drove 
a  30  horsepower  Opel  via  Koblenz. 
Wonderful  auto  ride ! 

I  managed  to  get  time  to  pass  my 
third  examination  in  Darmstadt  be- 
fore I  left. 

P.,  September  3,  1914 
Started  last  night  with  a  non-com- 
missioned officer  at  six  o'clock  and 
landed  here  safely  at  seven.    It  was 
a  very  pretty  flight. 
84 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Ch.,  September  4,  1914 
Have  been  here  with  the  division 
for  two  days.  As  I  had  no  observer 
along,  Wilhehn  has  commandeered 
me.  Of  course,  I  like  to  fly  best 
with  Wilhelm,  since  he  has  the  best 
judgment  and  practical  experience. 
As  he  already  knows  the  country 
fairly  well,  he  doesn't  need  a  map  at 
all  to  set  his  course.  We  flew  over 
the  enemy's  positions  for  about  an 
hour  and  a  half  at  a  height  of  two 
thousand  eight  hundred  meters,  till 
Wilhelm  had  spotted  everything. 
Then  we  made  a  quick  return.  He 
had  found  the  position  of  all  the 
enemy's  artillery.  As  a  result  of  his 
reports,  the  first  shots  fired  struck 
home. 
When  I  reached  the  aviation  field 
35 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

the  next  afternoon  two  of  the  planes 
had  already  left ;  Wilhelm  also.  For 
me  there  were  written  orders  to  lo- 
cate the  enemy  at  certain  points.  At 
my  machine  I  found  the  non-com- 
missioned officer  who  had  come  with 
me  from  Trier;  he  said  he  was  to  go 
up  with  me.  This  seemed  odd  to  me, 
because  I  really  should  have  been 
flying  with  Wilhelm.  I  got  in  and 
went  off  with  him,  since  I  knew  the 
country  from  my  first  flight.  We 
had  quite  a  distance  to  fly  and  were 
under  way  two  and  a  half  hours.  I 
flew  over  the  designated  roads  that 
ran  through  past  the  Argonne  For- 
est, and  with  a  red  pencil  marked  on 
the  map  wherever  I  saw  anything. 
Above  T.,  at  a  height  of  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  meters,  we  were 
86 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

under  heavy  fire.  I  was  rather  un- 
comfortable. To  the  right,  below  us, 
we  saw  little  clouds  pop  up;  then  a 
few  to  the  right  and  left  of  us.  This 
was  the  smoke  of  the  bursting  artil- 
lery shells.  Now,  I  think  nothing 
about  such  things.  They  never  hit 
as  long  as  you  fly  over  2,500  meters 
high,  as  we  do. 

At  7:10  I  landed  safely  here  at 
our  camp.  And  what  was  the  thanks 
I  got  for  having  sailed  around  over 
the  enemy's  lines  for  over  two  and 
a  half  hours?  I  got  a  *^call  down." 
I  had  hardly  shut  off  my  engine 
when  Wilhelm  came  racing  over  to 
me.  *^ Where  were  you?  What  have 
you  been  doing?  Are  you  crazy? 
You  are  not  to  fly  without  my  per- 
mission! You're  not  to  go  up  unless 
97 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

I  am  along."  And  more  of  the  same 
stuff.  Only  after  I  had  given  my 
word  to  do  as  he  asked,  would  he  let 
me  alone. 

Wednesday  evening  we  had  a  fine 
surprise:  two  of  our  ^^ missing"  re- 
turned. They  had  been  forced  to 
land  behind  the  enemy's  line  because 
their  motor  had  stopped.  They  were 
hardly  down  when  the  ^^Pisangs" 
(French  peasants)  came  running  to- 
ward them  from  every  direction. 
They  managed  to  get  into  a  nearby 
woods  by  beating  a  hasty  retreat. 
Behind  them  they  heard  the  yelling 
of  the  men  and  women.  The  woods 
was  surrounded,  and  they  had  to 
hide  till  night  fell.  Then  they  es- 
caped into  the  Argonne  Forest,  un- 
der cover  of  darkness  although  fired 
38 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

on  a  number  of  times.  Here  they 
spent  five  days,  avoiding  French 
troops.  As  they  had  only  berries 
and  roots  to  eat,  and  could  only 
travel  at  night,  they  were  almost 
ready  to  surrender.  But  on  the 
morning  of  the  seventh  day  they 
heard  someone  say,  in  German,  ^^Get 
on  the  job,  you  fool."  Those  were 
sweet  words  to  them,  for  it  was  a 
scouting  party  of  German  Dragoons. 
Thus,  they  got  back  to  us. 

M.,  September  10,  1914 
Yesterday  I  went  along  to  the  light 
artillery  positions,  and  from  there 
had  a  good  view  of  the  battlefield. 
There  really  was  nothing  to  see. 
There  were  no  large  bodies  of  sol- 
diers, only  here  and  there  a  rider  or 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

a  civilian.  The  only  thing  you  could 
see  was  the  smoke  from  bursting 
shells  and  the  burning  villages  all 
about.  But  if  there  was  nothing  to 
see,  there  certainly  was  plenty  to 
hear — the  dull  noise  of  the  light 
artillery,  the  sharp  crash  of  the  field 
pieces  and  the  crackling  of  small 
arms.  On  the  way  we  passed  an  en- 
campment of  reserves.  It  was  a  scene 
exactly  like  one  during  the  annual 
manoeuvers;  some  were  cooking, 
some  strolling  about,  but  most  of 
them  loafed  around  on  their  backs, 
not  paying  any  attention  to  the  bat- 
tle at  all. 

At  5 :  30  we  went  up.    Now  I  had  a 

chance  to  see  from  the  air  the  same 

scene  I  had   just  beheld  from  the 

ground.    There  was  still  heavy  firing ; 

40 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  villages 
were  burning.  At  7 :  30  we  were  down 
again. 

B.,  September  16,  1914 
Last  night  three  of  us  tried  to 
take  some  observations,  but  all  had 
to  come  back,  as  the  clouds  were  too 
heavy.  This  morning  it  was  my 
turn  to  go  up,  but  it  was  raining. 
We  have  to  have  the  fires  going  to 
keep  our  quarters  warm.  Next  to 
me  a  log-fire  is  burning  merrily. 
My  back  is  baked  to  a  crisp.  When 
my  one  side  gets  too  hot,  I  have  to 
turn  to  give  the  other  a  chance  to 
roast.  Later  some  of  the  telegra- 
phers are  coming  over  and  we  are 
going  to  play  ^'Schafskopf "  (a  Ger- 
man card  game).  C^est  la  guerre! 
41 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

B.,  October  12,  1914 
This  evening  I  received  the  Iron 
Cross. 

B.,  October  25,  1914 
For  weeks  the  weather  has  been 
so  foggy  that  we  began  to  consider 
ourselves  as  good  as  retired.  But 
three  days  ago  it  began  to  become 
bearable  again.  We  took  good  ad- 
vantage of  it.  We  were  in  our  ma- 
chines early  in  the  morning  and 
^ forked"  till  5 :  30  at  night.  I  made 
five  flights  to-day.  First,  Wilhelm, 
as  the  observer,  did  some  scout  work, 
and  later  did  some  range-finding 
for  the  artillery.  We  had  agreed 
that  we  were  to  fly  above  the  ene- 
my's positions  and  then  the  artillery 
was  to  fire.  Then  it  was  Wilhelm 's 
42 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

duty,  as  observer,  to  see  where  the 
shells  struck  and  signal  to  our  artil- 
lery, with  colored  lights,  if  the  shots 
fell  short,  beyond,  to  right  or  left,  of 
the  mark.  This  we  do  until  our  gun- 
ners find  the  range.  On  the  22d,  as 
a  result  of  this,  we  destroyed  one  of 
the  enemy's  batteries.  The  next  day 
we  wiped  out  three  in  three  and  a 
half  hours.  This  sort  of  flying  is 
very  trying  to  observer  and  pilot 
alike,  as  both  have  to  be  paying  con- 
stant attention  to  business. 

Yesterday  Wilhelm  was  at  head- 
quarters, and  returned  with  the  Iron 
Cross  of  the  First  Class.  He  has 
covered  a  total  distance  of  6,500  kilo- 
meters over  the  enemy's  soil,  while 
I  have  covered  3,400. 


43 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

October  27,  1914 
Wilhelm  lias  discovered  nine  of 
the  enemy's  batteries  south  of  M. 
and  southeast  of  Rheims,  among 
them  being  one  right  next  to  the  ca- 
thedral! 

November  5,  1914 
As  the  weather  is  very  poor  for 
flights  in  mid-day,  we  do  most  of 
our  flying  right  after  sunrise,  about 
7:30.  Things  began  to  liven  up  at 
different  points  to-day.  Our  friend, 
the  enemy,  had  to  be  taken  down  a 
peg,  again.  Shortly  after  7 :  30  we 
started.  Everything  went  well,  so 
that  we  were  back  in  an  hour.  Then 
we  payed  another  visit  to  our  artil- 
lery. We  now  fly  for  four  of  our 
batteries,  and  they  only  fire  when  we 
give  them  the  range.  Whenever  they 
44 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

have  a  target,  it  is  destroyed  at  the 
first  opportunity.  So  we  made  two 
more  flights  to-day,  therefore,  a  total 
of  three,  and  put  four  enemy  bat- 
teries out  of  action.  We  are  doing 
things  wholesale  now. 

November  10, 1914 
Wilhelm  has  now  flown  a  distance 
of   9,400,   I   7,300,    kilometers   over 
enemy  soil. 

Letter  of  November  15,  1914 
Mother  doesn't  need  to  be  afraid 
that  continual  flying  will  affect  our 
nerves.  The  very  opposite  is  more 
probable.  We  get  most  impatient  if 
we  are  kept  idle  a  few  days  because 
of  poor  weather.  We  stand  around 
looking  out  of  the  window  to  see  if 
45 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

it  isn't  clearing  up.  Nerves  can  be 
the  excuse  for  almost  anything,  I 
guess. 

B.,  November  30,  1914 
I  did  not  get  the  Fokker  as  yet. 
I  was  to  get  it  at  E.,  Thursday.  Too 
bad.  To  fly  for  the  artillery,  which 
is  our  main  work  just  now,  the  Fok- 
ker is  very  excellent,  because  of  its 
speed,  stability  and  ease  of  control. 
A  new  machine  has  been  ordered  for 
me  at  the  factory,  but  I  cannot  say 
if  I  am  going  to  get  it,  and  when. 

P.,  December  9,  1914 
Bad  weather.  No  important  work. 
Now,  we  ought  to  be  in  the  East, 
where  there  is  something  doing. 

Yesterday  I  was  in  R.  and  got  my 
Fokker,  which  had  arrived  in  the 
46 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

meantime.  It  is  a  small  monoplane, 
with  a  French  rotary  engine  in 
front;  it  is  about  half  as  large  as  a 
Taube.  This  is  the  last  modern  ma- 
chine which  I  have  learned  to  fly; 
now  I  can  fly  all  the  types  we  make 
in  Germany.  The  Pokker  was  my 
big  Christmas  present.  I  now  have 
two  machines:  the  large  biplane  for 
long  flights  and  the  small  Fokker  for 
range  finding.  This  'plane  flies  won- 
derfully and  is  very  easy  to  handle. 
Now  my  two  children  are  resting  to- 
gether in  a  tent,  the  little  one  in  a 
hollow,  with  its  tail  under  the  plane 
of  the  big  one. 

P.,  jANrAKY  21,  1915 

Since  Christmas  we  have  made  the 

following    flights:     December    24th, 

47 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

an  hour  and  a  half ;  December  25th, 
one  hour;  December  30th,  one  hour; 
January  6th,  one  hour;  January 
12th,  four  hours;  January  18th,  two 
hours.  It  was  poor  weather,  so  we 
could  not  do  more  than  this.  There 
isn't  much  use  in  flying  now,  any- 
how, as  long  as  we  do  not  want  to 
advance.  We  are  facing  each  other 
here  for  months,  and  each  side 
knows  the  other's  position  exactly. 
Changes  of  position,  flanking  move- 
ments, and  bringing  up  of  strong 
reserves,  as  in  open  warfare,  is  a 
thing  of  the  past  when  we  stick  to 
the  trenches,  so  there  is  nothing  to 
report.  There  would  be  some  sense 
in  flying  to  find  the  range,  but  as 
we  do  not  want  to  advance  at  pres- 
ent our  artillery  does  very  little 
48 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

firing.  It  is  sufficient  at  this  stage 
that  an  airplane  takes  a  peep  over 
the  line  once  in  a  while,  to  see  if 
everything  is  still  as  they  left  it. 

P,,  Janijaey  27,  1915 
This  morning  our  Captain  gave  K. 
and  me  the  Iron  Cross  of  the  First 
Class. 

P.,  April  25,  1915 
To-morrow  I  leave  here;  I  have 

been  transferred  to  the Flying 

Squadron,  which  is  just  being  es- 
tablished. To-morrow  I  go  to  Ber- 
lin to  report  at  the  inspection  of 
aviators, 

P.,  May  16,  1915 
Safely  back  in  P.     The  trip  was 
made  in  comparatively  quick  time. 
49 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

P.,  May  17,  1915 
We  had  to  leave  here  this  after- 
noon, after  we  had  hardly  arrived. 
I  am  very  glad.    New  scenery  and 
something  doing. 

D.,  May  22,  1915 
I  had  hoped  to  have  plenty  to  do 
here,  but  the  weather  cancelled  our 
plans.  We  had  plenty  of  time  to 
establish  ourselves,  assemble  our  ma- 
chines and  tune  them  up  with  a  few 
flights. 

The  city  is  entirely  unharmed  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants 
are  still  here.  The  city  gives  an  im- 
pression similar  to  Zerbst — a  mod- 
ern section  with  cottages  and  an  old 
section  with  older  houses:  the  city 
hall,  remains  of  the  old  city  wall, 
and  so-forth.  The  inhabitants  are 
50 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

prosperous.  All  the  stores,  hotels, 
coffee-houses  and  cafes  are  open. 
Every  day  two  of  my  friends  (Im- 
melmann  and  Lieutenant  P.)  and  I 
go  to  one  of  these  coffee-houses. 

D.,  May  25,  1915 
By  chance,  I  witnessed  a  great 
military  spectacle.  As  I  did  not 
have  to  fly  in  the  afternoon,  I  went 
to  the  artillery  observer's  post  with 
our  Captain.  About  four  o'clock  we 
reached  Y.;  from  here  we  had  an- 
other half  hour's  walk  ahead  of  us. 
From  a  distance  we  could  see  there 
was  heavy  firing  going  on.  The 
Major,  in  the  company's  bomb-proof, 
told  us  that  the  artillery  would  hard- 
ly have  time  now  to  avail  themselves 
of  airplanes  to  find  the  range  for 
61 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

them.  The  French  were  just  at  the 
time  trying  to  get  revenge  for  an  at- 
tack we  made  the  day  before,  and 
the  artillery  was  very  busy.  From 
there  we  went  to  the  observer's  post 
and  were  very  lucky.  Our  batteries 
were  just  firing  at  the  enemy's,  our 
airplanes  finding  the  range  for  them. 
Suddenly  the  non-commissioned  of- 
ficer at  the  double-periscope  yelled 
over  to  us  that  the  French  were 
bringing  up  reinforcements  through 
the  communicating  trenches.  The 
Lieutenant  of  Artillery  ran  over  to 
the  field  artillery  and  showed  them 
the  beautiful  target.  Soon  after  that 
a  few  of  our  shrapnel  burst  over 
these  positions.  Bang!  And  the 
enemy  was  gone.  Suddenly  a  ball 
of  red  fire  appeared  in  the  first 
52 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

French  trench.  This  meant — shells 
fall  ahead  of  trenches;  place  shots 
further  back.  Just  then,  over  a 
front  of  one  and  a  half  kilome- 
ters, a  whole  brigade  of  French- 
men rose  from  the  trenches,  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  a  thing  I  had  never  seen 
before.  We  have  to  admire  them  for 
their  courage.  In  front,  the  officers 
about  four  or  five  steps  in  the  lead; 
behind  them,  in  a  dense  line,  the 
men,  partly  negroes,  whom  we  could 
recognize  by  their  baggy  trousers. 
The  whole  line  moved  on  a  run.  For 
the  first  four  hundred  meters  (in  all 
they  had  seven  hundred  meters  to 
cover)  we  let  them  come  without 
firing.  Then  we  let  them  have  our 
first  shrapnel.  As  the  .artillery  knew 
the  exact  range,  the  first  shots  were 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

effective.  Then  came  the  heavier 
shells.  We  now  opened  a  murderous 
fire ;  it  was  so  loud  that  we  could  not 
hear  each  other  at  two  paces.  Again 
and  again  our  shells  struck  the  dense 
masses  and  tore  huge  gaps  in  them, 
but,  in  spite  of  this,  the  attack  con- 
tinued. The  gaps  were  always  quick- 
ly closed.  ISTow  our  infantry  took  a 
hand.  Our  men  stood  up  in  the 
trenches,  exposed  from  the  hips  up, 
and  fired  like  madmen.  After  three 
or  four  minutes  the  attack  slack- 
ened in  spots;  that  is,  parts  of  the 
line  advanced,  others  could  not. 
After  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the 
French  on  our  left  wing,  which  I 
could  see,  reached  our  trenches, 
shot  and  stabbed  from  above,  and 
finally  jumped  in.  Now  we  could 
54 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

plainly  see  the  hand-to-hand  combat : 
heads  bobbing  back  and  forth,  guns 
clubbed  (they  seemed  to  be  only  try- 
ing to  hit,  not  kill),  glistening  bay- 
onets, and  a  general  commotion.  On 
the  right  wing,  things  progressed 
slower,  almost  at  a  standstill-  In 
the  middle  a  group  jumped  forward 
now  and  then,  and  into  them  the 
artillery  fired  with  telling  effect. 
We  could  see  men  running  wildly 
about,  they  could  not  escape  our  artil- 
lery fire.  The  whole  slope  was  strewn 
with  bodies.  After  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  the  Frenchmen  started  to 
retreat.  First  one,  then  two,  then 
three,  came  out  of  our  trenches,  look- 
ed all  around,  and  started  for  their 
own  trenches.  In  the  meantime  more 
troops  came  up  from  the  rear.  But 
56 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

after  the  first  few  started  to  run 
more  came  out  of  the  trenches,  until 
finally  all  were  out  and  retreating. 
Our  men  also  got  out  to  be  able  to 
fire  at  the  retreating  enemy  to  better 
advantage.  Again  and  again  the 
French  officers  tried  to  close  up  their 
ranks,  rally  their  men,  and  lead  them 
anew  to  the  attack. 

But  in  vain,  for  more  and 
more  sought  safety  in  flight.  Many 
dropped— I  think  more  than  in  the 
advance.  In  the  center,  the  French 
had  advanced  to  within  fifty  meters 
of  us,  and  could  get  no  closer.  As 
the  retreat  started  on  the  left,  some 
in  the  center  also  lost  heart,  and  fled 
like  frightened  chickens.  But  al- 
most all  were  killed.  I  saw  six  run- 
ning away  when  a  shell  exploded 
56 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

near  them.  The  smoke  disappeared ; 
there  were  only  four  left.  A  second 
shell,  and  only  one  was  left.  He  was 
probably  hit  by  the  infantry.  The 
following  proves  how  completely  we 
repelled  their  attack:  Pour  French- 
men rose,  waved  their  arms  and  ran 
toward  our  trench.  Two  of  them 
carried  a  severely  wounded  comrade. 
Suddenly  they  dropped  their  burden 
and  ran  faster  toward  us.  Probably 
their  comrades  had  fired  on  them. 
Hardly  were  these  four  in  our 
trenches  when  fifty  more  of  them 
got  up,  waved  their  caps  and  ran  to- 
ward us.  But  the  Prenchmen  didn't 
like  this,  and  in  a  second  four  well- 
placed  shells  burst  between  them  and 
us;  probably  they  were  afraid  that 
there  would  be  a  general  surrender 
57 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

on  the  part  of  their  men.  The  re- 
treat was  now  general.  At  6 :  15  the 
main  battle  was  over.  Afterward 
we  could  see  here  and  there  a  few 
Frenchmen  running  or  crawling  to 
their  trench. 

I  was  very  glad  I  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  see  this.  From  above,  we 
aviators  don't  see  such  things. 


58 


PILOT  OF  A  BATTLEPLANE 


69 


PILOT  OF  A  BATTLEPLANE 

D.,  June  24,  1915 
Yesterday  the  Crown  Prince  of  Ba- 
varia, our  chief,  inspected  our  camp. 
Here  we  have  gathered  samples  of 
about  everything  that  our  knowledge 
of  aviation  has  developed :  Two  air- 
plane squadrons  and  one  battleplane 
division.  Both  airplane  squadrons 
are  equipped  with  the  usual  biplanes, 
only  we  have  an  improvement:  the 
wireless,  by  means  of  which  we  di- 
rect the  fire  of  our  artillery.  The 
battleplane  squadron  is  here  because 
there  is  a  lot  to  do  at  present  on  this 
front  (the  West).  Among  them 
there  are  some  unique  machines,  for 
61 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

example:  a  great  battleplane  with 
two  motors:  for  three  passengers, 
and  equipped  with  a  bomb-dropping 
apparatus — ^it  is  a  huge  apparatus. 
Outside  of  this,  there  are  other  bat- 
tleplanes with  machine  guns.  They 
are  a  little  larger  than  the  usual  run. 
Then  there  are  some  small  Fokker 
monoplanes,  also  with  machine  guns. 
So  we  have  everything  the  heart  can 
desire.  The  squadron  has  only  made 
one  flight,  but  since  then  the  French 
haven't  been  over  here.  I  guess 
something  must  have  proved  an  eye- 
opener  to  them. 

June  30,  1915 

Rain,  almost  continuously,  since 
the  22d.  I  am  absolutely  sick  of  this 
loafing. 

Since  June  14th,  I  have  a  battle- 
62 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

plane  of  my  own:  a  biplane,  with 
ISO-horsepower  motor.  The  pilot  sits 
in  front;  the  observer  behind  him, 
operating  the  machine  gun,  which 
can  be  fired  to  either  side  and  to  the 
rear.  As  the  French  are  trying  to 
hinder  our  aerial  observation  by 
means  of  battleplanes,  we  now  have 
to  protect  our  division  while  it  flies. 
When  the  others  are  doing  range- 
finding,  I  go  up  with  them,  fly  about 
in  their  vicinity,  observe  with  them 
and  protect  them  from  attack.  If 
a  Frenchman  wants  to  attack  them, 
then  I  make  a  hawk-like  attack  on 
him,  while  those  who  are  observing 
go  on  unhindered  in  their  flight.  I 
chase  the  Frenchman  away  by  flying 
toward  him  and  flring  at  him  with 
the  machine  gun.  It  is  beautiful  to 
63 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

see  them  run  from  me;  they  always 
do  this  as  quick  as  possible.  In  this 
way,  I  have  chased  away  over  a 
dozen. 

July  6,  1915 
I  succeeded  in  carrying  a  battle 
through  to  complete  victory  Sunday 
morning.  I  was  ordered  to  protect 
Lieutenant  P.,  who  was  out  range- 
finding,  from  enemy  'planes.  Wc 
were  just  on  our  way  to  the  front, 
when  I  saw  a  French  monoplane,  at 
a  greater  height,  coming  toward  us. 
As  the  higher  'plane  has  the  advan- 
tage, we  turned  away;  he  didn't  see 
us,  but  flew  on  over  our  lines.  We 
were  very  glad,  because  lately  the 
French  hate  to  fly  over  our  lines. 
When  over  our  ground  the  enemy 
cannot  escape  by  volplaning  to  the 
64 


M 
S 

Eh 


td 

o: 

tr 
a 
W 


td 
o 

H 


P 
W. 


CD 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

earth.  As  soon  as  lie  had  passed 
us  we  took  up  the  pursuit.  Still  he 
flew  very  rapidly,  and  it  took  us 
half  an  hour  till  we  caught  up  with 
him  at  V.  As  it  seems,  he  did  not 
see  us  till  late.  Close  to  V.  we  start- 
ed to  attack  him,  I  always  heading 
him  off.  As  soon  as  we  were  close 
enough  my  observer  started  to  pep- 
per him  with  the  machine  gun.  He 
defended  himself  as  well  as  he  could, 
but  we  were  always  the  aggressor, 
he  having  to  protect  himself.  Luck- 
ily, we  were  faster  than  he,  so  he 
could  not  flee  from  us  by  turning.  We 
were  higher  and  faster;  he  below  us 
and  slower,  so  that  he  could  not  es- 
cape. By  all  kinds  of  manoeuvers 
he  tried  to  increase  the  distance  be- 
tween us;  without  success,  for  I  was 
65 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

always  close  on  him.  It  was  glori- 
ous, I  always  stuck  to  him  so  that 
my  observer  could  fire  at  close  range. 
We  could  plainly  see  everything  on 
our  opponent's  monoplane,  almost 
every  wire,  in  fact.  The  average 
distance  between  us  was  a  hundred 
meters;  often  we  were  within  thirty 
meters,  for  at  such  high  speeds  you 
cannot  expect  success  unless  you  get 
very  close  together.  The  whole  fight 
lasted  about  twenty  or  twenty-five 
minutes.  By  sharp  turns,  on  the 
part  of  our  opponent,  by  jamming 
of  the  action  on  our  machine  gun,  or 
because  of  reloading,  there  were  lit- 
tle gaps  in  the  firing,  which  I  used 
to  close  in  on  the  enemy.  Our  su- 
periority showed  up  more  and  more ; 
at   the   end   I   felt   just   as   if   the 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Frenchman  had  given  up  defending 
himself  and  lost  all  hope  of  escape. 
Shortly  before  he  fell,  he  made  a 
motion  with  his  hand,  as  if  to  say: 
let  us  go;  we  are  conquered;  we  sur- 
render. But  what  can  you  do  in 
such  a  case,  in  the  air?  Then  he 
started  to  volplane ;  I  followed.  My 
observer  fired  thirty  or  forty  more 
shots  at  him;  then  suddenly  he  dis- 
appeared. In  order  not  to  lose  him, 
I  planed  down,  my  machine  almost 
vertical.  Suddenly  my  observer  cried, 
^^He  is  falling;  he  is  falling,"  and 
he  clapped  me  on  the  back  joyously. 
I  did  not  believe  it  at  first,  for  with 
these  monoplanes  it  is  possible  to 
glide  so  steeply  as  to  appear  to  be 
falling.  I  looked  all  over,  surprised, 
but  saw  nothing.  Then  I  glided  to 
67 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

earth  and  W.  told  me  that  the  ene- 
my machine  had  suddenly  turned 
over  and  fallen  straight  down  into 
the  woods  below.  We  descended  to 
a  height  of  a  hundred  meters  and 
searched  for  ten  minutes,  flying 
above  the  woods,  but  seeing  nothing. 
So  we  decided  to  land  in  a  meadow 
near  the  woods  and  search  on  foot. 
Soldiers  and  civilians  were  running 
toward  the  woods  from  all  sides. 
They  said  that  the  French  machine 
had  fallen  straight  down  from  a 
great  height,  turned  over  twice,  and 
disappeared  in  the  trees.  This  news 
was  good  for  us,  and  it  was  con- 
firmed by  a  bicyclist,  who  had  al- 
ready seen  the  fallen  machine  and 
said  both  passengers  were  dead.  We 
hurried  to  get  to  the  spot.    On  the 


!AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

way  Captain  W.,  of  the  cavalry,  told 
me  that  everyone  within  sight  had 
taken  part  in  the  fight,  even  if  only 
from  below.  Everyone  was  very  ex- 
cited, because  none  knew  which  was 
the  German  and  which  the  French, 
due  to  the  great  height.  When  we 
arrived  we  found  officers,  doctors 
and  soldiers  already  there.  The  ma- 
chine had  fallen  from  a  height  of 
about  1,800  meters.  Since  both  pas- 
sengers were  strapped  in,  they  had 
not  fallen  out.  The  machine  had 
fallen  through  the  trees  with  tre- 
mendous force,  both  pilot  and  ob- 
.  server,  of  course,  being  dead.  The 
doctors,  who  examined  them  at  once, 
could  not  help  them  any  more.  The 
pilot  had  seven  bullet  wounds,  the 
observer  three.  I  am  sure  both  were 
69 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

dead  before  they  fell.  We  found 
several  important  papers  and  other 
matter  on  them.  In  the  afternoon 
my  observer,  W.,  and  I  flew  back  to 
D.,  after  a  few  rounds  of  triumph 
above  the  village  and  the  fallen  air- 
plane. On  the  following  day,  the 
two  aviators  were  buried  with  full 
military  honors  in  the  cemetery  at 
M.  Yesterday  we  were  there.  The 
grave  is  covered  with  flowers  and  at 
the  spot  where  they  fell  there  is  a 
large  red,  white  and  blue  bouquet 
and  many  other  flowers. 

I  was  very  glad  that  my  observer, 
W.,  got  the  Iron  Cross.  He  fought 
excellently ;  in  all,  he  fired  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty  shots,  and  twenty- 
seven  of  them  hit  the  enemy  air- 
plane. 

70 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Letter  of  July  16,  1915 
.  .  .  Father  asks  if  it  will  be  all 
right  to  publish  my  report  in  the 
newspapers.  I  don't  care  much  for 
newspaper  publicity,  and  I  do  not 
think  that  my  report  is  written  in  a 
style  suitable  for  newspapers.  The 
people  want  such  a  thing  written 
with  more  poetry  and  color — grue- 
some, nerve-wrecking  suspense,  com- 
plete revenge,  mountainous  clouds, 
blue,  breeze-swept  sky — ^that  is  what 
they  want.  But  if  the  publication 
of  the  report  will  bring  you  any  joy, 
I  will  not  be  against  it. 

August  11,  1915 

Early   August   10th   the   weather 

was  very  poor  so  that   our  officer 

'phoned  in  to  the  city,  saying  there 

71 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

was  no  need  of  my  coming  out.  So 
I  was  glad  to  stay  in  bed.  Suddenly 
my  boy  woke  me  up,  saying  an  Eng- 
lish flyer  bad  just  passed.  I  bopped 
out  of  bed  and  ran  to  tbe  window. 
But  tbe  Englisbman  was  beaded 
for  bis  own  lines,  so  tbere  wasn't 
any  cbance  of  my  catcbing  bim.  I 
crawled  back  to  bed,  angry  at  be- 
ing disturbed.  I  bad  bardly  gotten 
comfortably  warm,  wben  my  boy 
came  in  again — ^tbe  Englisbman  was 
coming  back.  Well,  I  tbougbt  if 
tbis  fellow  bas  so  mucb  nerve,  I  bad 
better  get  dressed.  Unwasbed,  in 
my  nigbtsbirt,  witbout  leggings, 
bardly  balf  dressed,  I  rode  out  to 
tbe  camp  on  my  motorcycle.  I  got 
tbere  in  time  to  see  tbe  fellows  (not 
one,  but  four!)  dropping  bombs  on 
72 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

the  aviation  field.  As  I  was,  I  got 
into  my  machine  and  went  up  after 
them.  But  as  the  English  had  very 
speedy  machines  and  headed  for 
home  after  dropping  their  bombs,  I 
did  not  get  within  range  of  them. 
Very  sad,  I  turned  back  and  could 
not  believe  my  eyes,  for  there  were 
five  more  of  the  enemy  paying  us  a 
visit.  Straight  for  the  first  one  I 
headed.  I  got  him  at  a  good  angle, 
and  peppered  him  well,  but  just 
when  I  thought  the  end  was  near 
my  machine  gun  jammed.  I  was 
furious,  I  tried  to  repair  the  dam- 
age in  the  air,  but  in  my  rage  only 
succeeded  in  breaking  the  jammed 
cartridge  in  half.  There  was  noth- 
ing left  to  do  but  land  and  change 
the  cartridges;  while  doing  this  I 
73 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

saw  our  other  monoplanes  arrive 
and  was  glad  that  they,  at  least, 
would  give  the  Englishmen  a  good 
fight.  "While  having  the  damage  re- 
paired, I  saw  Lieutenant  Immel- 
mann  make  a  pretty  attack  on  an 
Englishman,  who  tried  to  fly  away. 
I  quickly  went  up  to  support  Im- 
melmann,  but  the  enemy  was  gone 
by  the  time  I  got  there.  In  the 
meantime,  Immelmann  had  forced  his 
opponent  to  land.  He  had  wounded 
him,  shattering  his  left  arm— Im- 
melmann had  had  good  luck.  Two 
days  before  I  had  flown  with  him  in 
a  Pokker;  that  is,  I  did  the  piloting 
and  he  was  only  learning.  The  day 
before  was  the  first  time  he  had 
made  a  flight  alone,  and  was  able  to 
land  only  after  a  lot  of  trouble.  He 
74 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

had  never  taken  part  in  a  battle  witli 
the  enemy,  but  in  spite  of  that,  he 
had  handled  himself  very  well. 

August  23,  1915 
On  the  evening  of  the  19th  I  had 
some  more  luck. 

I  fly  mostly  in  the  evening  to 
chase  the  Frenchmen  who  are  out 
range-finding,  and  that  evening  there 
were  a  lot  of  them  out.  The  first 
one  I  went  for  was  an  English  Bris- 
tol biplane.  He  seemed  to  take  me 
for  a  Frenchman;  he  came  toward 
me  quite  leisurely,  a  thing  our  op- 
ponents generally  don't  do.  But 
when  he  saw  me  firing  at  him,  he 
quickly  turned.  I  followed  close  on 
him,  letting  him  have  all  I  could 
give  him.  I  must  have  hit  him  or 
75 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

his  macMne,  for  he  suddenly  shut 
off  his  engine  and  disappeared  be- 
low me.  As  the  fight  took  place 
over  the  enemy's  position,  he  was 
able  to  land  behind  his  own  lines. 
According  to  our  artillery,  he  land- 
ed right  near  his  own  artillery.  That 
is  the  second  one  I  am  positive  I  left 
my  mark  on;  I  know  I  forced  him 
to  land.  He  didn't  do  it  because  he 
was  afraid,  but  because  he  was  hit. 
The  same  evening  I  attacked  two 
more,  and  both  escaped  by  volplan- 
ing. But  I  cannot  say  whether  or 
not  I  hit  them,  as  both  attacks  took 
place  over  the  French  lines. 

AuGiJST  29,  1915 
Day  before  yesterday  I  flew  my 

Fokker  to  the  division  at ,  where 

76 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

from  now  on  I  am  to  serve  with  the 
rank  of  officer.  I  am  to  get  a  newer, 
more  powerful  machine — 100-horse- 
power  engine.  Yesterday  I  again 
had  a  chance  to  demonstrate  my  skill 
as  a  swimmer.  The  canal,  which 
passes  in  front  of  the  Casino,  is 
about  25  meters  wide  and  21/2  meters 
deep.  The  tale  is  told  here  that 
there  are  fish  in  the  water,  too,  and 
half  the  town  stands  around  with 
their  lines  in  the  water.  I  have 
never  yet  seen  any  of  them  catch 
anything.  In  front  of  the  Casino 
there  is  a  sort  of  bank,  where  they 
unload  the  boats.  Yesterday,  after 
lunch,  I  was  standing  outside  the 
door  with  T.  and  saw  a  French  boy 
climb  over  the  rail,  start  in  fishing 
and  suddenly  hop  into  the  water.  I 
77 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

ran  over  to  see  what  lie  was  doing, 
but  he  wasn't  in  sight.  This  seemed 
peculiar,  so  I  wasted  no  time  in 
thought,  but  dived  over  after  him. 
This  all  happened  so  quickly  that  T. 
was  just  in  time  to  see  me  go  in  and 
did  not  know  what  was  the  matter. 
I  came  to  the  surface,  but  still  alone. 
Then  I  saw,  not  far  from  me,  bub- 
bles and  someone  struggling  in  the 
water.  I  swam  over  to  him,  dived, 
came  up  under  him,  and  had  him. 
In  the  meantime  T.  and  the  chauf- 
feur had  arrived  and  T.  thought  I 
was  going  to  drown  and  got  ready 
to  go  in  after  me.  Finally  we  got 
to  a  nearby  boat  and  T.  pulled  the 
boy  and  me  out.  When  we  got  to 
the  land  the  mother  of  the  boy  came 
running  up  and  thanked  me  most 
78 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

profusely.  The  rest  of  the  popula- 
tion gave  me  a  real  ovation.  I  must 
have  looked  funny,  because  I  had 
jumped  in  as  I  was  and  the  water 
was  streaming  off  me. 

September  18,  1915 
To-day  I  went  to  see  the  boy's 
parents  and  they  were  very  grateful. 
The  boy  had  grown  dizzy  while 
standing  on  the  bank  and  had  fallen 
in.  They  said  they  would  get  the 
order  of  the  French  Legion  of  Hon- 
or for  me  if  they  could.  That  would 
be  a  good  joke. 

Lately,  I  have  flown  to  the  front 
every  evening  with  Lieutenant  Im- 
melmann,  to  chase  the  Frenchmen 
there.  As  there  are  usually  eight  or 
ten  of  them,  we  have  plenty  to  do. 
79 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Saturday  we  had  the  luck  to  get  a 
French  battleplane  and  between  us 
chase  it  till  it  was  at  a  loss  what  to 
do.  Only  by  running  away  did  it 
escape  us.  The  French  did  not  like 
this  at  all.  The  next  evening  we 
went  out  peacefully  to  hunt  the  ene- 
my and  were  struck  right  away  by 
their  great  numbers.  Suddenly  they 
went  crazy  and  attacked  us.  They 
had  a  new  type  biplane,  very  fast, 
with  fuselage.  They  seemed  to  be 
surprised  that  we  let  them  attack  us. 
We  were  glad  that  at  last  we  had  an 
opponent  who  did  not  run  the  first 
chance  he  got.  After  a  few  vain  at- 
tacks, they  turned  and  we  followed, 
each  of  us  took  one  and  soon  forced 
them  to  volplane  to  earth.  As  it  was 
already  late,  we  were  satisfied  and 
80 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

turned  to  go  home.  Suddenly  I  saw 
two  enemy  'planes  cruising  around 
over  our  lines.  Since  our  men  in  the 
trenches  might  think  we  were  afraid, 
I  made  a  signal  for  Immelmann  to 
take  a  few  more  turns  over  the  lines 
to  show  this  was  not  so.  But  he 
misunderstood  me  and  attacked  one 
of  the  Frenchmen,  but  the  latter  did 
not  relish  this.  Meanwhile  the  sec- 
ond 'plane  started  for  Immelmann, 
who  could  not  see  him,  and  I  natur- 
ally had  to  go  to  Immelmann 's  aid. 
When  the  second  Frenchman  saw 
me  coming  he  turned  and  made  for 
me.  I  let  him  have  a  few  shots  so 
that  he  turned  away  when  things  got 
too  hot  for  him.  That  was  a  big 
mistake,  for  it  gave  me  a  chance  to 
get  him  from  behind.  This  is  the 
81 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

position  from  which  I  prefer  to  at- 
tack. I  was  close  on  his  heels  and 
not  more  than  fifty  meters  separated 
us,  so  it  was  not  long  before  I  had 
hit  him.  I  must  have  mortally 
wounded  the  pilot,  for  suddenly  he 
threw  both  his  arms  up  and  the  ma- 
chine fell  straight  down.  I  saw  him 
fall  and  he  turned  several  times  be- 
fore striking,  about  400  meters  in 
front  of  our  lines.  Everybody  was 
immensely  pleased,  and  it  has  been 
established  beyond  all  doubt  that 
both  aviators  were  killed  and  the 
machine  wrecked.  Immelmann  also 
saw  him  fall,  and  was  immensely 
pleased  by  our  success. 


g£ 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

M.,  September  23,  1915 
Sunday  night  I  unexpectedly  re- 
ceived a  telegram  saying  I  had  been 
transferred.  As  yet  there  is  no  ma- 
chine here  for  me,  so,  for  the  time 
being,  I  have  nothing  to  do. 

M.,  September  27,  1915 
I  was  casually  wandering  through 
the  streets ;  stopped  to  read  the  daily 
bulletins,  and  there  was  my  name. 

It  happened  the  third  day  of  my 
stay  here.  As  my  machines  had  not 
yet  arrived,  the  Captain  loaned  me 
a  Fokker.  I  was  told  to  be  ready 
at  nine  o'clock,  as  the  others  were  to 
protect  the  Kaiser,  who  was  break- 
fasting in  a  nearby  castle.  As  I 
wanted  to  get  acquainted  with  my 
machine,  I  went  up  at  a  quarter  of 
83 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

nine.  I  wa^  up  about  three  or  four 
minutes  when  I  saw  bombs  bursting 
and  three  or  four  enemy  'planes  fly- 
ing toward  M.  I  quickly  tried  to 
climb  to  their  altitude.  This,  of 
course,  always  takes  some  time,  and 
by  that  time  the  enemy  was  over  M., 
unloading  their  bombs  on  the  rail- 
road station.  Luckily  they  hit  noth- 
ing. After  they  had  all  dropped 
their  bombs  (there  were  now  ten  of 
them)  they  turned  to  go  home.  I 
was  now  about  at  their  altitude,  so 
I  started  for  them.  One  of  the  bi- 
planes saw  me — it  seems  they  go 
along  to  protect  the  others — and  he 
attacked  me  from  above.  Since  it  is 
very  hard  to  fire  at  an  opponent  who 
is  above  you,  I  let  him  have  a  few 
shots  and  turned  away.  That  was 
84 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

all  the  Prencliinan  wanted,  so  he 
turned  back.  I  again  attacked  the 
squadron  and  soon  succeeded  in  get- 
ting in  range  of  the  lowest  of  them. 
I  did  not  fire  till  I  was  within  a  hun- 
dred meters,  to  avoid  attracting  un- 
necessary attention.  My  opponent 
was  frightened  and  tried  to  escape. 
I  was  right  behind  him  all  the  while, 
and  kept  filling  him  with  well-aimed 
shots.  My  only  worry  was  the  others, 
who  heard  the  shots  and  came  to 
their  comrade's  rescue.  I  had  to 
hurry.  I  noticed  I  was  having  some 
success,  because  the  Frenchman 
started  to  glide  to  earth.  Finally, 
both  of  us  had  dropped  from  2,500 
meters  to  1,200.  I  kept  firing  at  him 
from  behind,  as  well  as  I  could.  In 
the  meantime,  however,  two  of  his 
85 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

friends  had  arrived  and  sent  me  sev- 
eral friendly  greetings.  That  isn't 
very  comfortable,  and  to  add  to  it 
all,  I  was  without  a  map  above  a 
strange  territory  and  did  not  know 
where  I  was  any  longer.  As  my  op- 
ponent kept  flying  lower  and  his 
companions  followed,  I  had  to  as- 
smne  I  was  behind  the  enemy's  line. 
Therefore,  I  ceased  my  attack  and 
soon,  owing  to  my  speed  and  lack  of 
desire  to  follow  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  I  left  them  far  behind.  Now 
I  had  to  find  my  way  back.  I  flew 
north,  and  after  a  time  got  back  to 
the  district  around  M.,  which  was 
familiar  to  me  from  my  days  at  the 
officers'  school.  When  I  got  back  I 
only  knew  what  I  have  told,  and 
could  report  only  a  battle  and  not  a 
86 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

victory.  By  aid  of  a  map  I  found 
I  had  been  over  P.  a  M.  In  the  af- 
ternoon the  report  came  that  the  in- 
fantry on  the  heights  of  had 

seen  a  biplane  ^ Aflutter"  to  earth. 
The  artillery  positively  reported  that 
the  biplane  I  had  fired  on  had  fallen 
behind  the  enemy's  barbed-wire  en- 
tanglements. They  said  the  pilot 
had  been  dragged  to  the  trenches, 
dead  or  severely  wounded.  Then  our 
artillery  had  fired  at  the  'plane  and 
destroyed  it.  I  can  only  explain  the 
thing  this  way :  I  wounded  the  pilot 
during  the  fight;  he  had  tried  to 
glide  to  earth  and  land  behind  his 
own  lines;  shortly  before  landing  he 
lost  consciousness  or  control  of  his 
machine;  then  he  ^^ fluttered"  to 
earth ;  i.e.,  fell.  This  was  the  fourth 
one.  87 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

October  17,  1915 
Yesterday,  the  16th,  I  shot  down 
a  French  Voisin  biplane  near  P. 

R.,  November  2,  1915 
On  the  30th  of  October  we  attack- 
ed at  T.  It  was  our  business  to 
break  up  all  scouting  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy,  and  that  was  difficult  that 
day.  The  clouds  were  only  1,500 
meters  above  earth,  broken  in  spots. 
The  French  were  sailing  around  be- 
hind their  front  on  the  1,400-meter 
level.  Attacked  two  through  the 
clouds.  The  first  escaped.  I  got 
within  100  meters  of  the  second  be- 
fore he  saw  me.  Then  he  started  to 
run,  but  that  didn't  help  him  any, 
because  I  was  much  faster  than  he. 
I  fired  500  shots  before  he  fell.  Was 
88 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

within  three  to  five  meters  of  him. 
He  would  not  fall.  In  the  very  mo- 
ment when  we  seemed  about  to  col- 
lide, I  turned  off  to  the  left.  He 
tilted  to  the  right.  I  saw  nothing 
more  of  him.  Was  very  dizzy  my- 
self. Was  followed  by  two  Parmans 
and  was  1,000  meters  behind  the  ene- 
my's lines.  Artillery  fired.  Too 
high.  Got  home  without  being  hit. 
The  enemy  airplane  fell  behind  his 
own  lines.  The  wreck,  about  200 
meters  from  our  lines,  is  plainly 
visible,  especially  one  wing,  which  is 
sticking  straight  up.  The  attack  was 
rather  rash  on  my  part,  but  on  this 
day  of  great  military  value;  the 
French  did  not  come  near  our  posi- 
tion after  that. 


89 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

D.,  December  12,  1915 
Am  once  more  in  the  familiar 
town  of  D.  Everything  is  the  same 
as  usual.  The  Captain  was  very 
glad  that  he  could  give  me  the  life- 
saving  medal.    It  had  just  arrived. 

D.,  December  31,  1915 
Christmas  celebrated  very  nicely 
and  in  comfort.  Christmas  Eve  we 
had  a  celebration  for  the  men  in  one 
of  the  hangars,  which  was  all  dec- 
orated. They  all  received  some  fine 
presents.  The  authorities  had  sent 
a  package  with  all  kinds  of  things 
for  each  one  of  them.  In  the  eve- 
ning we  officers  also  had  a  little  cele- 
bration at  the  Casino ;  here  they  also 
gave  out  our  presents.  For  me  there 
was  a  very  beautiful  silver  cup, 
90 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

among  other  tMngs.  This  cup  was 
inscribed  ^^To  the  victor  in  the  air," 
and  was  given  to  me  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Aviation 
Corps.  Immelmann  received  its  mate. 
Day  before  yesterday  I  had  a  fight 
with  a  very  keen  opponent,  who  de- 
fended himself  bravely.  I  was  su- 
perior to  him  and  forced  him  into 
the  defensive.  He  tried  to  escape 
by  curving  and  manoeuvring,  and 
even  tried  to  throw  me  on  the  de- 
fensive. He  did  not  succeed,  but  I 
could  not  harm  him  either.  All  I 
did  accomplish  was  to  force  him 
gradually  closer  to  earth.  We  had 
started  at  2,800  and  soon  I  had  him 
down  to  1,000  meters.  We  kept 
whirring  and  whizzing  around  each 
other.  As  I  had  already  fired  on 
91 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

two  other  enemy  craft  on  this  trip, 
I  had  only  a  few  cartridges  left. 
This  was  his  salvation.  Finally  he 
could  not  defend  himself  any  more 
because  I  had  mortally  wounded  his 
observer.  Now  it  would  have  been 
comparatively  safe  for  me  to  get 
him  if  I  had  not  run  out  of  ammuni- 
tion at  the  800-meter  level.  Neither 
of  us  was  able  to  harm  the  other. 
Finally  another  Fokker  (Immel- 
mann  came  to  my  rescue  and  the 
fight  started  all  over  again.  I  at- 
tacked along  with  Immelmann  to  con- 
fuse the  Englishman.  We  succeeded 
in  forcing  him  to  within  100  meters 
of  the  ground  and  were  expecting 
him  to  land  any  moment.  Still  he 
kept  flying  back  and  forth  like  a 
lunatic.  I,  by  flying  straight  at  him, 
92 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

wanted  to  put  a  stop  to  this,  but 
just  then  my  engine  stopped  and  I 
had  to  land.  I  saw  him  disappear 
over  a  row  of  trees,  armed  myself 
with  a  flashlight  (I  had  nothing  bet- 
ter) and  rode  over  on  a  horse.  I 
expected  that  he  had  landed,  but  im- 
agine my  surprise!  He  had  flown 
on.  I  inquired  and  telephoned,  but 
found  out  nothing.  In  the  evening 
the  report  came  that  he  had  passed 
over  our  trenches  at  a  height  of  100 
meters  on  his  way  home.  Daring 
of  the  chap!  Not  every  one  would 
care  to  imitate  him.  Immelmann 
had  jammed  his  gun  and  had  to  quit. 

January  8,  1916 
On  the  5th  of  January  I  pursued 
two  Englishmen,   overtook  them  at 
93 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

H.-L.  and  attacked  the  first  one.  The 
other  did  not  seem  to  see  me ;  at  any 
rate  he  kept  right  on.  The  fight  was 
comparatively  short.  I  attacked,  he 
defended  himself;  I  hit  and  he 
didn't.  He  had  dropped  consider- 
ably in  the  meantime,  and  finally 
started  to  sway  and  landed.  I  stayed 
close  behind  him,  so  he  could  not  es- 
cape. Close  to  H.  he  landed;  his 
machine  broke  apart,  the  pilot 
jumped  out  and  collapsed.  I  quick- 
ly landed  and  found  the  'plane  al- 
ready surrounded  by  people  from 
the  nearby  village.  The  Englishmen, 
whom  I  interviewed,  were  both 
wounded.  The  pilot,  who  was  only 
slightly  wounded,  could  talk  Ger- 
man; the  observer  was  severely 
wounded.  The  former  was  very  sad 
94 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

at  his  capture ;  I  had  hit  his  controls 
and  shot  them  to  pieces.  Yesterday 
I  visited  the  observer  at  the  hos- 
pital ;  the  pilot  had  been  taken  away 
in  the  meantime.  I  brought  the  ob- 
server English  books  and  photo- 
graphs of  his  machine.  He  was  very 
pleased.  He  said  he  knew  my  name 
well. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  5th,  I 
made  another  flight,  but  everything 
was  quiet.  I  landed  and  rode  to  the 
city  to  eat  with  the  rest,  because  it 
was  getting  cloudy  again.  Just  im- 
agine my  luck!  I  was  hardly  in 
when  a  squadron  of  ten  'planes  ap- 
peared. I  hurried  back  again  and  ar- 
rived just  as  they  were  dropping 
their  bombs  on  our  field.  All  the 
helpers  were  in  the  bomb-proofs.  I 
95 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

howled  as  if  I  were  being  burned 
alive.  At  last  someone  came.  I 
had  to  take  an  80-horsepower  ma- 
chine, because  Immelmann,  who  had 
remained  behind,  had  already  taken 
my  160-horsepower  machine.  But 
with  the  80-horsepower  machine  I 
could  not  reach  the  enemy  in  time. 
Then  I  saw  one  somewhat  separated 
from  the  rest.  One  Fokker  had  al- 
ready attacked  it,  and  I  went  to  help 
him,  for  I  saw  I  could  not  overtake 
the  rest.  When  the  Englishman  saw 
both  of  us  on  top  of  him,  he  judged 
things  were  too  hot  for  him,  and 
quickly  landed  at  V.,  both  of  us 
close  behind  him.  The  Englishman 
was  alone,  still  had  all  his  bombs, 
was  unwounded  and  had  only  landed 
through  fear. 

96 


An  Aviator  Bombarded  With  Shrapnel 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Januaky  15,  1916 
Now,  events  come  so  fast  I  cannot 
keep  up  with  them  by  writing. 

On  the  11th  we  had  a  little  gather- 
ing that  kept  me  up  later  than  usual, 
so  I  did  not  feel  like  getting  up  in 
the  morning.  But,  as  the  weather 
was  good,  I  strolled  out  to  the  field 
and  went  up  about  nine  o'clock.  I 
flew  over  to  Lille  to  lie  in  wait  for 
any  hostile  aircraft.  At  first,  I  had 
no  luck  at  all.  Finally  I  saw  bombs 
bursting  near  Ypres.  I  flew  so  far 
I  could  see  the  ocean,  but  am  sorry 
to  say  I  could  not  find  any  enemy 
'plane.  On  my  way  back,  I  saw  two 
Englishmen,  west  of  Lille,  and  at- 
tacked the  nearer  one.  He  did  not 
appreciate  the  attention,  but  turned 
and  ran.  Just  above  the  trenches  I 
97 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

came  within  gunshot  of  Mm.  We 
greeted  each  other  with  our  machine 
guns,  and  he  elected  to  land.  I  let 
him  go  to  get  at  the  second  of  the 
pair,  and  spoil  his  visit,  also. 
Thanks  to  my  good  machine,  I  grad- 
ually caught  up  with  him,  as  he  flew 
toward  the  east,  north  of  Lille. 
When  I  was  still  four  or  five  hun- 
dred meters  away  from  him,  he 
seemed  to  have  seen  all  he  wanted, 
for  he  turned  to  fly  west.  Then  I 
went  for  him.  I  kept  behind  him  till 
I  was  near  enough.  The  Englishman 
seemed  to  be  an  old  hand  at  this 
game,  for  he  let  me  come  on  with- 
out firing  a  shot.  He  didn't  shoot 
until  after  I  started.  I  flew  square- 
ly behind  him,  and  had  all  the  time 
in  the  world  to  aim,  because  he  did 
98 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

not  vary  a  hair  from  his  straight 
course.  He  twice  reloaded  his  gun. 
Suddenly,  after  only  a  short  while, 
he  fell.  I  was  sure  I  had  hit  the 
pilot.  At  800  meters,  his  machine 
righted  itself,  but  then  dove  on, 
head-foremost,  till  it  landed  in  a 
garden  in  M.,  northeast  of  S.  The 
country  is  very  rough  there,  so  I 
went  back  to  our  landing-place  and 
reported  by  telephone.  To  my  sur- 
prise, I  heard  that  at  the  time  Im- 
melmann  had  shot  down  an  English- 
man near  P.    I  had  to  laugh. 

The  greatest  surprise  came  in  the 
evening.  We  were  just  at  dinner 
when  I  was  called  to  the  'phone.  At 
the  other  end  was  the  Commander- 
in-Chief's  Adjutant,  who  congrat- 
ulated me  for  receiving  the  order 
99 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Pour  le  merite.  I  thought  he  was 
joking.  But  he  told  me  that  Immel- 
mann  and  I  had  both  received  this 
honor  at  the  telegraphic  order  of  the 
Kaiser.  My  surprise  and  joy  were 
great.  I  went  in  and  said  nothing, 
but  sent  Captain  K.  to  the  'phone, 
and  he  received  the  news  and  broke 
it  to  all.  First,  everyone  was  sur- 
prised, then  highly  pleased.  On  the 
same  evening  I  received  several  mes- 
sages of  congratulation,  and  the  next 
day,  January  13th,  had  nothing  to 
do  all  day  but  receive  other  such 
messages. 

Everybody  seemed  elated.  One  old 
chap  would  not  let  me  go,  and  I 
didn't  escape  till  I  promised  to  visit 
him.  Prom  all  comers  I  received 
messages:  by  telephone  and  tele- 3^ 
100 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  SOOK 

graph.  The  King  of  Bavaria,  who 
happened  to  be  in  Lille  with  the  Ba- 
varian Crown  Prince,  invited  me  to 
dinner  for  the  14th  of  January. 

Now  comes  the  best  of  all.  On  the 
14th,  that  is,  yesterday,  it  was  ideal 
weather  for  flying.  So  I  went  up  at 
nine  o'clock  to  look  around.  As  it 
was  getting  cloudy  near  Lille,  I 
changed  my  course  to  take  me  south 
of  Arras.  I  was  up  hardly  an  hour, 
when  I  saw  the  smoke  of  bursting 
bombs  near  P.  I  flew  in  that  direc- 
tion, but  the  Englishman  who  was 
dropping  the  bombs  saw  me  and 
started  for  home.  I  soon  overtook 
him. 

When  he  saw  I  intended  to  attack 
him,  he  suddenly  turned  and  at- 
tacked me.  Now,  there  started  the 
101 


AN  .AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

hardest  fight  I  iiave  as  yet  been  in. 
The  Englishman  continually  tried  to 
attack  me  from  behind,  and  I  tried 
to  do  the  same  to  him.  We  circled 
'round  and  'round  each  other.  I  had 
taken  my  experience  of  December 
28th  to  heart  (that  was  the  time  I 
had  used  up  all  my  ammunition),  so 
I  only  fired  when  I  could  get  my 
sights  on  him.  In  this  way,  we  cir- 
cled around,  I  often  not  firing  a  shot 
for  several  minutes.  This  merry- 
go-round  was  immaterial  to  me, 
since  we  were  over  our  lines.  But  I 
watched  him,  for  I  felt  that  sooner 
or  later  he  would  make  a  dash  for 
home.  I  noticed  that  while  circling 
around  he  continually  tried  to  edge 
over  toward  his  own  lines,  which 
were  not  far  away.     I  waited  my 

102 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

chance,  and  was  able  to  get  at  him 
in  real  style,  shooting  his  engine  to 
pieces.  This  I  noticed  when  he  glid- 
ed toward  his  own  lines,  leaving  a 
tail  of  smoke  behind  him.  I  had  to 
stop  him  in  his  attempt  to  reach 
safety,  so,  in  spite  of  his  wrecked 
motor,  I  had  to  attack  him  again. 
About  200  meters  inside  our  posi- 
tions I  overtook  him,  and  fired  both 
my  guns  at  him  at  close  range  (I 
no  longer  needed  to  save  my  car- 
tridges). At  the  moment  when  I 
caught  up  to  him,  we  passed  over 
our  trenches  and  I  turned  back.  I 
could  not  determine  what  had  be- 
come of  him,  for  I  had  to  save  my- 
self now.  I  flew  back,  and  as  I  had 
little  fuel  left,  I  landed  near  the  vil- 
lage of  F.  Here  I  was  received  by 
103 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

the  Division  Staff  and  was  told 
what  had  become  of  the  Englishman. 
To  my  joy,  I  learned  that,  imimedi- 
ately  after  I  had  left  him,  he  had 
come  to  earth  near  the  English  posi- 
tions. The  trenches  are  only  a  hun- 
dred meters  apart  at  this  place.  One 
of  the  passengers,  the  pilot,  it  seems, 
jumped  out  and  ran  to  the  English 
trenches.  He  seems  to  have  escaped, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  our  infantry 
fired  at  him.  Our  field  artillery 
quickly  opened  fire  on  his  machine, 
and  among  the  first  shots  one  struck 
it  and  set  it  afire.  The  other  avia- 
tor, probably  the  pilot,  who  was 
either  dead  or  severely  wounded, 
was  burned  up  with  the  machine. 
Nothing  but  the  skeleton  of  the  air- 
plane remains.    As  my  helpers  did 

104 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

not  come  till  late,  I  rode  to  D.  in  the 
Division  automobile,  because  I  had 
to  be  with  the  King  of  Bavaria  at 
5 :  30.  From  D.  I  went  directly  on  to 
Lille.  King  and  Crown  Prince  both 
conversed  with  me  for  quite  a  while, 
and  they  were  especially  pleased  at 
my  most  recent  success.  Once  home, 
I  began  to  see  the  black  side  of  be- 
ing a  hero.  Everyone  congratulates 
you.  All  ask  you  questions.  I  shall 
soon  be  forced  to  carry  a  printed  in- 
terrogation sheet  with  me  with  ans- 
wers all  filled  out.  I  was  par- 
ticularly pleased  by  my  ninth  suc- 
cess, because  it  followed  so  close  on 
the  Pour  le  merite. 

S.,  March  16,  1916 
Since  March  11th  I  am  here  in  S. 
As  the  lines  near  Verdun  have  all 
105 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

been  pushed  ahead,  we  were  too  far 
in  the  rear.  We  saw  nothing  of  the 
enemy  aviators;  the  reports  came 
too  late,  so  that  we  were  not  as  time- 
ly as  formerly.  Therefore,  they  let 
me  pick  out  a  place  nearer  the  lines. 
I  chose  a  good  meadow.  I  am  en- 
tirely independent;  have  an  automo- 
bile of  my  own,  also  a  motor  truck, 
and  command  of  a  non-commissioned 
officer  and  fifteen  men.  We  are  so 
near  the  front  that  we  can  see  every 
enemy  airplane  that  makes  a  flight 
in  our  vicinity.  In  the  first  days  of 
our  stay  here,  I  had  good  luck.  The 
weather  was  good  on  March  12th. 
We  had  a  lot  to  do.  I  started  about 
eleven  to  chase  two  French  Farman 
biplanes,  who  were  circling  around 
over  L'homme  mort.  By  the  time  I 
106 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

arrived  there  were  four  of  them.  I 
-waited  for  a  good  chance,  and  as 
soon  as  two  of  them  crossed  our 
front  I  went  for  the  upper  one. 
There  now  ensued  a  pretty  little 
game.  The  two  Frenchmen  stuck 
together  like  brothers;  but  I  would 
not  let  go  of  the  one  I  had  tackled 
first.  The  second  Frenchman,  on  his 
part,  tried  to  stick  behind  me.  It 
was  a  fine  game.  The  one  I  was  at- 
tacking twisted  and  spiralled  to  es- 
cape. I  got  him  from  behind  and 
forced  him  to  the  500-meter  level. 
I  was  very  close  to  him  and  quite 
surprised  that  he  had  stopped  his 
twisting;  but  just  as  I  was  about  to 
give  him  the  finishing  shots,  my  ma- 
chine gun  stopped.  I  had  pressed 
down  too  hard  on  the  trigger 
107 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

meclianism,  in  the  heat  of  the  bat- 
tle, and  this  had  jammed.  The  sec- 
ond Frenchman  now  attacked  me, 
and  I  escaped  while  I  could.  The 
second  fight  took  place  over  our 
lines.  The  first  Frenchman,  as  I 
learned  later,  had  gotten  his  share. 
He  was  just  able  to  glide  to  the 
French  side  of  the  Meuse,  and  here 
he  landed,  according  to  some  re- 
ports; others  say  he  fell.  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  the  former,  but 
probably  he  could  not  pick  a  good 
spot  in  which  to  land,  and  so  broke 
his  machine.  From  Lieutenant  E. 
I  heard  that  the  machine,  as  well  as 
an  automobile,  that  came  to  its  aid, 
were  set  afire  by  our  artillery.  I 
learned  further  details  from  Lieu- 
tenant B.  After  landing,  one  of  the 
108 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

aviators  ran  to  the  village,  returned 
with  a  stretcher  and  helped  carry 
the  other  one  away.  Things  seem  to 
have  happened  like  this :  I  wounded 
the  pilot;  he  was  just  able  to  make 
a  landing;  then,  with  the  aid  of  his 
observer,  he  was  carried  off,  and  our 
artillery  destroyed  his  machine. 

On  the  following  day,  the  13th, 
there  was  again  great  aerial  activity. 
Early  in  the  morning  I  came  just  in 
time  to  see  a  French  battleplane  at- 
tack a  German  above  Forf  Douau- 
mont.  I  went  for  the  Frenchman 
and  chased  him  away — it  was  beau- 
tiful to  see  him  go.  In  the  after- 
noon, I  saw  a  French  squadron  fly- 
ing above  L'homme  mort,  toward  D. 
I  picked  out  one  of  them  and  went 
for  him.    It  was  a  Voisin  biplane, 

109 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

that  lagged  somewliat  behind  the  rest. 
As  I  was  far  above  him,  I  overtook 
him  rapidly  and  attacked  him  be- 
fore he  fully  realized  the  situation. 
As  soon  as  he  did,  he  turned  to  cross 
back  over  the  French  front.  I  at- 
tacked him  strongly,  and  he  tilted  to 
the  right  and  disappeared  under  me. 
I  thought  he  was  falling;  turned  to 
keep  him  in  sight,  and,  to  my  sur- 
prise, saw  that  the  machine  had 
righted  itself.  Again  I  went  for 
him,  and  saw  a  very  strange  sight. 
The  observer  had  climbed  out  of  his 
seat  and  was  on  the  left  plane,  hold- 
ing to  the  struts.  He  looked  fright- 
ened, and  it  was  really  a  sorry  plight 
to  be  in.  He  was  defenseless,  and  I 
hesitated  to  shoot  at  him.  I  had  evi- 
dently put  their  controls  out  of  com- 

110 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

mission,  and  the  machine  had  fallen. 
To  right  it,  the  observer  had  climbed 
out  on  the  plane  and  restored  its 
equilibrimn.  I  fired  a  few  more 
shots  at  the  pilot,  when?  I  was  at- 
tacked by  a  second  Frenchman,  com- 
ing to  the  rescue  of  his  comrade.  As 
I  had  only  a  few  shots  left  and  was 
above  the  enemy's  line,  I  turned 
back.  The  enemy  'plane  glided  on  a 
little  distance  after  I  left,  but  finally 
fell  from  a  low  altitude.  It  is  lying 
in  plain  sight,  in  front  of  our  posi- 
tions east  of  the  village  of  D. 

We  have  now  spoiled  the  French- 
men's fun.  On  March  14th  I  again 
attacked  one  of  their  battleplanes, 
and  it  seemed  in  a  great  hurry  to 
get  away  from  me.  I  accompanied 
him  a  little  way,  playing  the  music 
111 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

with  my  machine  gun.  He  descend- 
ed behind  Port  M.,  as  reported  later 
by  our  soldiers. 

March  17,  1916 

Last  evening  I  was  invited  to  dine 
with  the  Crown  Prince.  It  was  very 
pleasant.  He  does  not  value  eti- 
quette, and  is  very  unassuming  and 
natural.  He  pumped  all  possible  in- 
formation out  of  me,  as  he  himself 
admitted  later.  We  had  quite  a 
long  talk,  and  on  my  taking  leave 
he  said  he  would  wish  for  me  that 
I  would  soon  bring  down  the  twelfth 
enemy. 

S.,  March  21, 1916 

Twelve  and  thirteen  followed  close 

on  each  other.    As  the  weather  was 

fine,  we  had  a  lot  to  do  every  day. 

On  the  19th  I  was  flying  toward  D., 

112 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

in  the  afternoon,  to  get  two  Par- 
mans,  who  were  cruising  around  be- 
hind their  front.  About  12 :  45  I  saw 
bombs  bursting  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Meuse.  I  came  just  in  time  to 
see  the  enemy*  flying  back  over  his 
own  lines.  I  thought  he  had  escaped 
me  when  I  saw  him  turn  and  start 
for  one  of  our  biplanes.  That  was 
bad  for  him,  because  I  got  the 
chance  to  attack  him  from  above. 
As  soon  as  he  saw  me,  he  tried  to 
escape  by  steep  spirals,  firing  at  me 
at  the  same  time. 

But  no  one  who  is  as  frightened  as 
he  was  ever  hits  anything.  I  never 
fired  unless  certain  of  my  aim,  and 
so  filled  him  with  well-placed  shots. 
I  had  come  quite  close  to  him,  when 
I  saw  him  suddenly  upset;  one  wing 
113 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

broke  off,  and  his  machine  gradually 
separated,  piece  by  piece.  As  there 
was  a  south  wind,  we  had  drifted 
over  our  positions,  and  he  fell  into 
our  trenches.  Pilot  and  observer 
were  both  killed.  I  had  hit  the  pilot 
a  number  of  times,  so  that  death  was 
instantaneous.  The  infantry  sent  us 
various  things  found  in  the  enemy 
'plane,  among  them  a  machine  gun 
and  an  automatic  camera.  The  pic- 
tures were  developed,  and  showed 
our  artillery  positions. 

This  morning  I  started  at  9 :  50,  as 
our  anti-aircraft  guns  were  firing  at 
a   Farman   biplane   above    Cote   de 

.     The  enemy  was  flying  back 

and  forth  in  the  line  Ch —  to  Ch — . 

At  10:10  I  was  above  him,  as  well 

as  another  Farman,  flying  above  M. 

114 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

As  the  Farman  again  approached 
our  position,  I  started  to  attack  him. 
The  anti-aircraft  guns  were  also 
firing,  but  I  imagine  they  were  only 
finding  the  range,  since  their  shots 
did  not  come  near  the  Frenchman. 
At  the  moment  when  the  one  Far- 
man  turned  toward  the  south,  I 
started  for  the  other,  who  was  flying 
somewhat  lower.  He  saw  me  com- 
ing, and  tried  to  avoid  an  engage- 
ment by  spiral  glides.  As  he  flew 
very  cleverly,  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore I  got  within  range.  At  an 
altitude  of  five  or  six  hundred  me- 
ters I  opened  fire,  while  he  was  still 
trying  to  reach  his  own  lines.  But 
in  pursuing  him,  I  had  come  within 
two  hundred  meters  of  the  road 
from  M.  to  Ch.,  so  I  broke  off  the 
115 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

attack.  My  opponent  gave  his  en- 
gine gas  (I  could  plainly  see  the 
smoke  of  his  exhaust)  and  flew 
away  toward  the  southeast.  The  suc- 
cess I  had  two  hours  later  reim- 
bursed me  for  this  failure.  In  the 
morning,  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  I 
saw  a  German  biplane  in  battle  with 
a  Farman  west  of  O.  I  swooped 
down  on  the  Farman  from  behind, 
while  another  Fokker  came  to  our 
aid  from  above.  In  the  meantime,  I 
had  opened  fire  on  the  Farman  (who 
had  not  seen  me  at  all)  at  a  range 
of  eighty  meters.  As  I  had  come 
from  above,  at  a  steep  angle,  I  had 
soon  overtaken  him.  In  the  very 
moment  as  I  was  passing  over  him 
he  exploded.  The  cloud  of  black 
smoke  blew  around  me.  It  was  no 
116 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

battle  at  all;  lie  had  fallen  in  the 
shortest  possible  time.  It  was  a  tre- 
mendous spectacle :  to  see  the  enemy 
burst  into  flames  and  fall  to  earth, 
slowly  breaking  to  pieces. 

The  reports  that  I  have  been 
wounded  in  the  head,  arms,  neck, 
legs,  or  abdomen,  are  all  foolish. 
Probably  the  people  who  are  always 
inquiring  about  me,  will  now  dis- 
credit such  riunors. 

Apru.  29,  1916 
Thursday  morning,  at  nine,  as  I 
arrived  in  S.,  after  a  short  trip  to 
Germany,  two  Frenchmen  appeared 
— the  first  seen  in  the  last  four 
weeks.  I  quickly  rode  out  to  the 
field,  but  came  too  late.  I  saw  one 
of  our  biplanes  bring  one  of  the  ene- 
117 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

mies  to  earth;  the  other  escaped.  I 
flew  toward  the  front  at  Yerdun,  and 
came  just  in  time  for  a  little  scrape. 
Three  Frenchmen  had  crossed  over 
onr  lines  and  been  attacked  by  a 
Fokker,  who  got  into  difficulties,  and 
had  to  retreat.  I  came  to  his  aid; 
attacked  one  of  the  enemy,  and  pep- 
pered him  properly.  The  whole 
bunch  then  took  to  their  heels.  But 
I  did  not  let  my  friend  escape  so 
easily.  He  twisted  and  turned,  fly- 
ing with  great  cleverness.  I  attack- 
ed him  three  times  from  the  rear, 
and  once  diagonally  in  front.  Fin- 
ally, he  spiralled  steeply,  toppled 
over  and  flew  for  a  while  with  the 
wheels  up.  Then  he  dropped.  Ac- 
cording to  reports  from  the Re- 
serve Division,  he  fell  in  the  woods 
118 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

southwest  of  v.,  after  turning  over 
twice  more.    That  was  number  14. 


S.,  May  9,  1916 
On  May  1st  I  saw  an  enemy  bi- 
plane above  the  ^^Pfefferriicken/^ 
as  I  was  standing  at  our  landing 
station.  I  started  at  once,  and  over- 
took him  at  1,500  meters  altitude.  It 
seems  he  did  not  see  me.  I  attacked 
from  above  and  behind,  and  greeted 
him  with  the  usual  machine-gun  fire. 
He  quickly  turned  and  attacked  me. 
But  this  pleasure  did  not  last  long 
for  him.  I  quickly  had  him  in  a 
bad  way,  and  made  short  work  of 
him.  After  a  few  more  twists  and 
turns  my  fire  began  to  tell,  and  final- 
ly he  fell.  I  then  flew  home,  satis- 
fied that  I  had  accomplished  my 
119 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

task.     The  whole  thing  only  lasted 
about  two  minutes. 

June  2,  1916 
On  the  17th  of  May  we  had  a  good 
day.    One  of  our  scout  'planes  want- 
ed to  take  some  pictures  near  Ver- 
dun, and  I  was  asked  to  protect  it.  I 

met  him  above  the  Cote  de and 

flew  with  him  at  a  great  altitude. 
He  worked  without  being  disturbed, 
and  soon  turned  back  without  hav- 
ing been  fired  at.  On  the  way  back, 
I  saw  bombs  bursting  at  Douaumont 
and  flew  over  to  get  a  closer  view. 
There  were  four  or  five  other  Ger- 
man biplanes  there;  I  also  noticed 
several  French  battleplanes  at  a  dis- 
tance. I  kept  in  the  background  and 
watched  our  opponents.  I  saw  a 
Nieuport  attack  one  of  our  ma- 
120 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

chines,  so  I  went  for  him  and  I 
ahnost  felt  I  had  him ;  but  my  speed 
was  too  great,  and  I  shot  past  him. 
He  then  made  off  at  great  speed;  I 
behind  him.  Several  times  I  was 
very  near  him,  and  fired,  but  he  flew 
splendidly.  I  followed  him  for  a 
little  while  longer,  but  he  did  not 
appreciate  this.  Meanwhile,  the  other 
French  battleplanes  had  come  up, 
and  started  firing  at  me.  I  flew  back 
over  our  lines  and  waited  for  them 
there.  One,  who  was  much  higher 
than  the  rest,  came  and  attacked  me ; 
we  circled  around  several  times  and 
then  he  flew  away.  I  was  so  far  be- 
low him  that  it  was  hard  to  attack 
him  at  all.  But  I  could  not  let  him 
deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of  fol- 
lowing him  for  a  while.  During  this 
121 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

tilt,  I  dropped  from  4,000  meters  to 
a  height  of  less  than  2,000,  Our  bi- 
planes had  also  drifted  downward. 

Suddenly,  at  an  altitude  of  4,700 
meters,  I  saw  eight  of  the  enemy's 
Caudrons,  I  could  hardly  believe 
my  eyes !  They  were  flying  in  pairs, 
as  if  attached  to  strings,  in  perfect 
line.  They  each  had  two  engines, 
and  were  flying  on  the  line  Meuse- 
Douaumont.  It  was  a  shame  1  Now, 
I  had  to  climb  to  their  altitude 
again.  So  I  stayed  beneath  a  pair  of 
them  and  tried  to  get  at  them.  But, 
as  they  were  flying  so  high  and 
would  not  come  down  toward  me,  I 
had  no  success.  Shortly  before  they 
were  over  our  kite-balloons  they 
turned.  So  fifteen  or  twenty  min- 
utes passed.  Finally  I  reached  their 
122 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

height.  I  attacked  from  below,  and 
tried  to  give  them  something  to  re- 
member me  by,  but  they  paid  no  at- 
tention to  me,  and  flew  home.  Just 
then,  above  Cote  de  -^ — ,  I  saw  two 
more  Caudrons  appear,  and,  thank 
goodness,  they  were  below  me.  I 
flew  toward  them,  but  they  were  al- 
ready across  the  Meuse.  Just  in 
time,  I  looked  up,  and  saw  a  Nieu- 
port  and  a  Caudron  coming  down 
toward  me.  I  attacked  the  more 
dangerous  opponent  first,  and  so  flew 
straight  toward  the  Nieuport.  We 
passed  each  other  firing,  but  neither 
of  us  were  hit.  I  was  only  striving 
to  protect  myself.  When  flying  to- 
ward each  other,  it  is  very  difficult 
to  score  a  hit  because  of  the  com^ 
bined   speed   of   the   two   craft.    I 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

quickly  turned  and  followed  close 
behind  the  enemy.  Then  the  other 
Caudron  started  to  manoeuver  the 
same  way,  only  more  poorly  than 
the  Nieuport.  I  followed  him,  and 
w^as  just  about  to  open  fire  when  a 
Fokker  came  to  my  aid,  and  attack- 
ed the  Caudron.  As  we  were  well 
over  the  French  positions,  the  latter 
glided,  with  the  Fokker  close  behind 
him.  The  Nieuport  saw  this,  and 
came  to  the  aid  of  his  hard-pressed 
companion ;  I  in  >turn  followed  the 
Nieuport.  It  was  a  peculiar  posi- 
sion:  below,  the  fleeing  Caudron; 
behind  him,  the  Fokker;  behind  the 
Fokker,  the  Nieuport,  and  I,  last  of 
all,  behind  the  Nieuport.  We  ex- 
changed shots  merrily.  Finally  the 
Fokker  let  the  Caudron  go,  and  the 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Nieuport  stopped  chasing  the  Fok- 
ker.  I  fired  my  last  shots  at  the 
Nieuport  and  went  home.  The  whole 
farce  lasted  over  an  hour.  We  had 
worked  hard,  but  without  visible 
success.  At  least,  the  Fokker  (who 
turned  out  to  be  Althaus)  and  I  had 
dominated  the  field. 

On  the  18th  of  May  I  got  Number 
16.  Toward  evening  I  went  up  and 
found  our  biplanes  everywhere 
around  Verdun.  I  felt  superfluous 
there,  so  went  off  for  a  little  trip.  I 
wanted  to  have  a  look  at  the  Cham- 
pagne district  once  more,  and  flew  to 
A.  and  back.  Everywhere  there  was 
peace :  on  earth  as  well  as  in  the  air. 
I  only  saw  one  airplane,  in  the  dis- 
tance at  A.  On  my  way  back  I  had 
the  good  luck  to  see  two  bombs 
U5 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

bursting  at  M.,  and  soon  saw  a 
Caudron  near  me.  The  Prenchman 
liad  not  seen  me  at  all.  He  was  on 
his  way  home,  and  suspected  noth- 
ing. As  he  made  no  move  to  attack 
or  escape,  I  kept  edging  closer  with- 
out firing.  When  I  was  about  fifty 
meters  away  from  them,  and  could 
see  both  passengers  plainly,  I  start- 
ed a  well-aimed  fire.  He  immedi- 
ately tilted  and  tried  to  escape  below 
me,  but  I  was  so  close  to  him  it  was 
too  late.  I  fired  quite  calmly.  After 
about  150  shots  I  saw  his  left  engine 
smoke  fiercely  and  then  burst  into 
flame.  The  machine  turned  over, 
buckled,  and  burned  up.  It  fell  like 
a  plummet  into  the  French  second  line 
trenches,  and  continued  to  burn  there. 
On  May  20th  I  again  went  for  a 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

little  hunting  trip  in  the  Champagne 
district,  and  attacked  a  Farman 
north  of  V.  I  went  for  him  behind 
his  own  lines,  and  he  immediately 
started  to  land.  In  spite  of  this,  I 
followed  him,  because  his  was  the 
only  enemy  machine  in  sight.  I 
stuck  to  him  and  fired,  but  he  would 
not  fall.  The  pilot  of  a  Farman  ma- 
chine is  well  protected  by  the  motor, 
which  is  behind  him.  Though  you 
can  kill  the  observer,  and  riddle  the 
engine  and  tanks,  they  are  always 
able  to  escape  by  gliding.  But  in 
this  case,  I  think  I  wounded  the 
pilot  also,  because  the  machine  made 
the  typical  lengthwise  tilt  that  shows 
it  is  out  of  control.  But  as  the  fight 
was  too  far  behind  the  French  front, 
I  flew  home. 

127 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

The  next  day  I  again  had  tangible 
results.  In  the  afternoon  I  flew  on 
both  sides  of  the  Meuse.  On  the 
French  side  two  French  battleplanes 
were  flying  at  a  great  altitude;  I 
could  not  reach  them.  I  was  about 
to  turn  back,  and  was  gliding  over 
L'homme  mort,  when  I  saw  two 
Caudrons  below  me,  who  had  es- 
caped my  observation  till  then.  I 
went  after  them,  but  they  immedi- 
ately flew  off.  I  followed,  and  at  a 
distance  of  200  meters,  attacked  the 
one;  at  that  very  instant  I  saw  a 
Nieuport  coming  toward  me.  I  was 
anxious  to  give  him  something  to 
remember  me  by,  so  I  let  the  Caud- 
rons go  and  flew  due  north.  The 
Nieuport  came  after  me,  thinking  I 
had  not  seen  him.  I  kept  watching 
128 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

him  until  lie  was  about  200  meters 
away.  Then  I  quickly  turned  my 
machine  and  flew  toward  him.  He 
was  frightened  by  this,  turned  his 
machine  and  flew  south.  By  my  at- 
tack, I  had  gained  about  100  meters, 
so  that  at  a  range  of  100  to  150  me- 
ters, I  could  fill  his  fuselage  with 
shots.  He  made  work  easy  for  me 
by  flying  in  a  straight  line.  Besides, 
I  had  along  ammunition  by  means 
of  which  I  could  determine  the  path 
of  my  shots.  My  opponent  com- 
menced to  get  unsteady,  but  I  could 
not  follow  him  till  he  fell.  Not  until 
evening  did  I  learn  from  a  staff  of- 
ficer that  the  infantry  at  L'homme 
mort  had  reported  the  fall  of  the 
machine.  In  the  evening,  I  went  out 
again,  without  any  particular  ob- 
129 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

jective,  and  after  a  number  of  false 
starts  I  had  some  success*     I  was 

flying  north  of  Bois  de  ,  when 

I  saw  a  Frenchman  flying  about.  I 
made  believe  I  was  flying  away,  and 
the  Frenchman  was  deceived  by  my 
ruse  and  came  after  me,  over  our 
positions.  Now  I  swooped  down  on 
him  with  tremendous  speed  (I  was 
much  higher  than  he).  He  turned, 
but  could  not  escape  me.  Close  be- 
hind the  French  lines,  I  caught  up 
with  him.  He  was  foolish  enough 
to  fly  straight  ahead,  and  I  pounded 
him  with  a  continuous  stream  of 
well-placed  shots.  I  kept  this  up  till 
,he  caught  fire.  In  the  midst  of  this 
he  exploded,  collapsed,  and  fell  to 
earth.  As  he  fell,  one  wing  broke 
off.  So,  in  one  day,  I  had  gotten 
Numbers  17  and  18. 
130 


LEAVE  OF  ABSENCE 


131 


LEAVE  OF  ABSENCE 

July  4,  1916 
I  was  at  S.  collecting  all  the  equip- 
ment of  my  division.  As  all  the  au- 
thorities helped  me  quickly  and  well, 
I  was  ready  to  move  on  June  30th. 
Imagine  my  bad  luck:  just  on  this 
very  day  I  was  destined  to  make  my 
exit  from  the  stage.  It  was  like  this : 
Near  Verdun  there  was  not  much 
to  do  in  the  air.  Scouting  had  been 
almost  dropped.  One  day,  when 
there  was  a  little  more  to  do  than 
usual,  I  had  gone  up  twice  in  the 
morning  and  was  loafing  around  on 
the  field.  I  suddenly  heard  machine- 
133 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

gun  firing  in  the  air  and  saw  a  Nieu- 
port  attacking  one  of  our  biplanes. 
The  German  landed  and  told  me,  all 
out  of  breath: 

^^The  devil  is  loose  on  the  front. 
Six  Americans  are  up.  I  could 
plainly  see  the  American  flag  on  the 
fuselage.  They  were  quite  bold; 
came  all  the  way  across  the  front.'' 

I  didn't  imagine  things  were  quite 
so  bad,  and  decided  to  go  up  and 
give  the  Americans  a  welcome.  They 
were  probably  expecting  it;  polite- 
ness demanded  it.  I  really  met  them 
above  the  Meuse.  They  were  flying 
back  and  forth  quite  gaily,  close 
together.  I  flew  toward  them,  and 
greeted  the  first  one  with  my  ma- 
chine gun.  He  seemed  to  be  quite 
a  beginner;  at  any  rate,  I  had  no 
134 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

trouble  in  getting  to  within  100  me- 
ters of  him,  and  had  him  well  under 
fire.  As  he  was  up  in  the  clouds  and 
flew  in  a  straight  course,  I  was  jus- 
tified in  expecting  to  bring  him  to 
earth  soon.  But  luck  was  not  with 
me.  I  had  just  gotten  my  machine 
back  from  the  factory,  and  after 
firing  a  few  shots  my  gun  jammed. 
In  vain  I  tried  to  remedy  the 
trouble.  While  still  bothering  with 
my  gun  the  other  ^^five  Americans" 
were  on  me.  As  I  could  not  fire,  I 
preferred  to  retreat,  and  the  whole 
swarm  were  after  me.  I  tried  to 
speed  up  my  departure  by  tilting 
my  machine  to  the  left  and  letting 
it  drop.  A  few  hundred  meters,  and 
I  righted  it.  But  they  still  followed. 
I  repeated  the  manoeuver  and  flew 
135 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

home,  little  pleased  but  unharmed. 
I  only  saw  that  the  Americans  were 
again  flying  where  I  had  found 
them,*  This  angered  me  and  I  im- 
mediately got  into  my  second  ma- 
chine and  went  off  again.  I  was 
hardly  1,500  meters  high  when  with 
a  loud  crash  my  motor  broke  apart, 
and  I  had  to  land  in  a  meadow  at  C. 
We  made  another  pretty  flight  this 
day.  The  district  around  B.  and 
west  of  Verdun  was  to  be  photo- 
graphed by  a  scout  division.  Cap- 
tain V.  was  to  go  over  with  the 
squadron,  and  asked  me  to  go  with 
two  other  Fokkers  to  protect  them. 
I  went  with  them,   and  as  I  kept 

♦  The  result  of  this  was  that  the  English  wireless 
news  service  asserted  the  next  day:  "Yesterday  Adju- 
tant RlbiSre  succeeded  in  bringing  down  the  famous 
Captain  Bolcke  in  an  air  battle  at  Verdun."  In  the 
meantime  I  have  relieved  him  of  this  misapprehension. 

136 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

close  to  them,  I  was  right  at  hand 
when  two  French  battleplanes  at- 
tacked. The  first  one  did  not  ap- 
proach very  close,  but  the  second 
attacked  the  biplane  which  carried 
Captain  V.  As  he  was  just  then  en- 
gaged in  looking  through  his  binoc- 
ulars, he  did  not  see  the  machine 
approach.  The  pilot,  also,  did  not 
notice  it  till  the  last  moment.  Then 
he  made  such  a  sharp  turn  that 
Captain  V.  almost  fell  out.  I  came 
to  their  aid;  the  Frenchman  started 
to  run.  I  could  hardly  aim  at  him 
at  all,  he  flew  in  such  sharp  curves 
and  zigzags.  At  1,800  meters'  ele- 
vation, I  fired  a  few  parting  shots 
and  left  him.  I  was  sure  he  would 
not  do  us  any  more  harm.  As  one 
of  the  wires  to  a  spark-plug  had 
137 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

broken,  my  engine  was  not  running 
right,  so  I  turned  and  went  home. 
The  squadron  had  all  the  time  in 
the  world  to  take  photographs,  and 
was  quite  satisfied  with  results.  The 
machine  I  had  attacked  was  first  re- 
ported as  having  fallen,  but  later 
this  was  denied. 

Now  came  the  extremely  sad  news 
of  Inmielmann's  death.  One  evening 
we  received  word  he  had  fallen.  I 
first  thought  it  was  one  of  the  usual 
rumors,  but,  to  my  deep  sorrow,  it 
was  later  confirmed  by  staff  oflScers. 
They  said  his  body  was  being  taken 
to  Dresden.  I,  therefore,  immedi- 
ately asked  for  leave  to  fly  to  D. 

It  v/as  very  impressive.  Immel- 
mann  lay  in  the  courtyard  of  a  hos- 
pital, on  a  wonderful  bier.  Every- 
138 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

where  there  were  pedestals  with 
torches  burning  on  them. 

Immelmann  lost  his  life  through  a 
foolish  accident.  Everything  the  pa- 
pers write  about  a  battle  in  the  air 
is  nonsense.  A  part  of  his  propeller 
broke  off  and,  due  to  the  jerk,  the 
wire  braces  of  the  fuselage  snapped. 
The  fuselage  then  broke  off.  Aside 
from  the  great  personal  loss  we  have 
suffered,  I  feel  the  moral  effect  of 
his  death  on  the  enemy  is  not  to  be 
underrated. 

I  made  good  use  of  my  chance  to 
again  attack  the  English  at  D.  I 
liked  it  so  well,  I  kept  postponing 
my  return  to  S.  One  evening  I  flew 
a  Halberstadt  biplane;  this  was  the 
first  appearance  of  these  machines 
at  the  front.  As  it  is  somewhat  sim- 
139 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

ilar  to  an  English  B.  E.,  I  succeeded 
in  completely  fooling  an  English- 
man. I  got  to  within  fifty  meters  of 
him  and  fired  a  number  of  shots  at 
him.  But  as  I  was  flying  quite  rap- 
idly, and  was  not  as  familiar  with 
the  new  machine  as  with  the  Fok- 
ker,  I  did  not  succeed  in  hitting  him 
right  away.  I  passed  beneath  him, 
and  he  turned  and  started  to  de- 
scend. I  followed  him,  but  my  car- 
tridge belt  jammed  and  I  could  not 
fire.  I  turned  away,  and  before  I  had 
repaired  the  damage  he  was  gone. 

The  next  day  I  had  two  more  op- 
portunities to  attack  Englishmen. 
The  first  time,  it  was  a  squadron  of 
six  Vickers'  machines.  I  started  as 
they  were  over  L.,  and  the  other 
Pokkers  from  D.  went  with  me.  As 
140 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

I  had  the  fastest  machine,  I  was  first 
to  reach  the  enemy.  I  picked  out 
one  and  shot  at  him,  with  good  re- 
sults; his  motor  (behind  the  pilot) 
puffed  out  a  great  quantity  of  yel- 
low smoke.  I  thought  he  would  fall 
any  moment,  but  he  escaped  by  glid- 
ing behind  his  own  line.  According 
to  the  report  of  our  infantry,  he  was 
seen  to  land  two  kilometers  behind 
the  front.  I  could  not  finish  him  en- 
tirely, because  my  left  gun  had  run 
out  of  ammunition,  and  the  right 
one  had  jammed.  In  the  meantime, 
the  other  Fokkers  had  reached  the 
English.  I  saw  one  160-horsepower 
machine  (Mulzer,  pilot,)  attack  an 
Englishman  in  fine  style,  but  as  the 
Englishman  soon  received  aid,  I  had 
to  come  to  Mulzer 's  rescue.     So  I 

141 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

drove  the  one  away  from  Mulzer; 
my  enemy  did  not  know  I  was  im- 
able  to  fire  at  him.  Mulzer  saw  and 
recognized  me,  and  again  attacked 
briskly.  To  my  regret,  he  had  only 
the  same  success  I  had  had  a  while 
before,  and  as  Mulzer  turned  to  go 
home,  I  did  likewise.  In  the  after- 
noon, I  again  had  a  chance  at  an 
Englishman,  but  he  escaped  in  the 
clouds. 

Meanwhile,  the  Crown  Prince  had 
telephoned  once,  and  our  staff  of&cer 
several  times,  for  me  to  return.  I 
had  at  first  said  I  would  wait  for 
better  weather,  so  they  finally  told 
me  to  take  the  train  back  if  it  was 
poor  weather.  So  I  saw  it  was  no 
use,  and  the  next  morning  I  flew 
back  to  S.    Here  I  found  a  telegram 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

for  me:  ^^ Captain  Bolcke  is  to  re- 
port at  once  to  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Aerial  Division.  He  is 
to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Army."  My 
joy  was  great,  for  I  expected  to  be 
sent  to  the  Second  Army,  where  the 
English  offensive  was  just  begin- 
ning. In  the  afternoon  I  reported 
to  the  Crown  Prince,  and  there  I  be- 
gan to  have  doubts,  for  he  left  me 
in  the  dark  as  to  my  future.  On  the 
next  day  I  reported  to  the  Chief  of 
the  Aerial  Division  at  C,  and  here 
all  my  expectations  were  proven  un- 
founded. For  the  present,  I  was  not 
to  fly,  but  was  to  rest  at  C.  for  my 
nerves. ' '  You  can  imagine  my  rage. 
I  was  to  stay  at  a  watering-place  in 
C.  and  gaze  into  the  sky.  If  I  had 
143 


a 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

any  wish  I  just  needed  to  express  it, 
only  I  was  not  to  fly.  You  can  im- 
agine my  rage.  When  I  saw  that  I 
could  do  nothing  against  this  de- 
cision, I  resolved  that  rather  than 
stay  at  C.  I  would  go  on  leave  of 
absence,  and  at  this  opportunity  see 
the  other  fronts.  After  I  telephoned 
Wilhelm  (who  was  glad  rather  than 
sorry  for  me),  my  orders  were 
changed  to  read:  ^^ Captain  Bolcke 
is  to  leave   for  Turkey  and   other 

countries  at  the  request  of .'' 

Even  though  this  was  nothing  that 
replaced  my  work,  it  was,  at  least,  a 
balm  for  my  wounded  feelings.  I 
immediately  went  to  S.  to  pack  my 
things  and  use  the  remaining  two 
days  to  fly  as  much  as  possible.  I 
flew  twice  that  night,  because  I  had 
144 


a 


"A 

o 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

to  utilize  the  time.  In  spite  of 
bad  weather,  I  had  the  luck  to  meet 
five  Frenchmen  the  second  time  I 
went  up.  One  came  within  range 
and  I  attacked  him.  He  was  quite 
low  and  above  his  own  trenches,  but 
in  my  present  frame  of  mind  that 
did  not  matter  to  me.  I  flew  toward 
him,  firing  both  guns,  flew  over  him, 
turned  and  started  to  attack  him 
again,  but  found  him  gone.  It  was 
very  dark  by  then.  When  I  got 
home  I  asked  if  anyone  had  seen 
him  fall,  but  no  one  knew  anything 
definite. 

The  next  day  the  weather  was  bad, 
and  I  fiew  over  to  Wilhelm  to  talk 
over  several  things  and  bid  him  fare- 
well. Picture  my  surprise,  when  I 
read  in  the  afternoon's  wireless  re- 

145 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

ports:  ^^ Yesterday  an  enemy  ma- 
chine was  brought  down  near  Douau- 
mont"  This  could  only  have  been 
my  enemy,  because,  on  account  of 
the  bad  weather,  I  was  the  only  Ger- 
man who  had  gone  up  at  that  part 
of  the  front.  I  immediately  called 
up  the  staff  officer,  and  he  said  yes, 
it  had  been  a  Pokker,  yesterday  eve- 
ning, that  had  brought  down  the 
Frenchman,  but  no  one  knew  who 
was  flying  the  Fokker.  I  told  him 
the  time,  place,  and  other  circum- 
stances, and  he  seemed  very  sur- 
prised, and  forbid  me  any  further 
flight.  He  proceeded  to  make  further 
inquiries.  The  next  morning  the 
further  surprising  details  arrived: 
The  enemy  airplane  that  had  been 
attacked  above  our  first  line  trenches 
146 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

had  fallen  in  our  lines  because  of 
heavy  south  winds.  That  was  very 
fine  for  me.  Now,  my  departure 
from  the  front  was  not  so  bad,  be- 
cause I  had  brought  down  another 
enemy  and  so  had  put  a  stop  to  any 
lies  the  enemy  might  start  about  me. 
The  others,  my  helpers,  friends,  etc., 
were  well  pleased.  To  put  a  stop  to 
any  more  such  breaks  of  discipline, 
they  made  me  go  direct  to  Ch.  It 
pleased  me  that  I  could  make  four 
of  my  mechanics  corporals  before  I 
left.  Three  of  them  got  the  Iron 
Cross.  In  Ch.  I  had  to  quickly  make 
my  final  preparations,  get  my  passes, 
etc.,  for  my  trip,  and  now  I  am  on 
the  way,  Dessau-Berlin.  On  the  day 
I  left  I  had  breakfast  with  the 
Kaiser,  and  he  greeted  me  with : 
147 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

^^Well,  well;  we  have  you  in  leash 
now.'^ 

It  is  funny  that  everyone  is  pleased 
to  see  me  cooped  up  for  a  while. 
The  sorriest  part  of  all  is  that  I  am 
forced  to  take  this  leave  just  at  a 
time  when  the  English  offensive  is 
developing  unprecedented  aerial  ac- 
tivity. 

Vienna^  July  8,  1916 
Several  incidents  happened  just 
before  I  left  Berlin.  My  train  was 
scheduled  to  leave  the  Zoo  at  8 :  06. 
A  half  hour  before  my  departure  I 
noticed  that  my  ^^Potir  le  merit e^^ 
was  missing.  I  could  not  think  of 
leaving  without  it.  I  rode  to  get 
it;  it  had  been  left  in  my  civilian 
clothes,  but  niy  valet  had  already 
148 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

taken  these.  Of  course,  there  was 
no  auto  in  sight,  so  I  had  to  take  a 
street  car,  though  I  was  in  a  hurry. 
My  valet  was,  in  the  meantime, 
packing  my  things  up.  The  result 
was  that  I  got  to  the  station  just  as 
the  train  was  pulling  out.  At  the 
same  time  the  valet  was  at  the  sta- 
tion at  Friedrichstrasse  with  all  the 
luggage.  After  riding  around  a 
while  we  met  again  at  our  house. 
Fischer  was  trembling  like  a  leaf, 
for  he  thought  it  was  all  his  fault. 
I  immediately  changed  my  plan,  for 
the  days  till  the  start  of  the  next 
Balkan  train  had  to  be  utilized;  so 
I  decided  on  a  flight  to  headquarters 
in  Vienna  and  Budapest.  I  had 
the  Aerial  Division  announce  my 
coming  to  Vienna,  and  left  that 
149 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

night 'from  the  Anhalt  Station.  As 
companion,  I  had  a  Bohemian  Coal 
Baron,  who  had  only  given  30,000,000 
marks  for  war  loans;  he  was  very- 
pleasant.  Except  for  a  few  attacks 
by  autograph  collectors,  the  trip  was 
eventless.  In  Tetschen,  at  the  border, 
I  was  relieved  of  the  bother  of  cus- 
toms officials  through  the  kindness 
of  an  Austrian  officer.  It  was  the 
lasting  grief  of  my  companion  that 
he  had  to  submit  to  the  customs  in 
spite  of  all  the  letters  of  recom- 
mendation he  had. 

July  7,  1916 
In  Vienna  I  was  met  by  a  brother 
aviator  at  the  station.  He  took  me 
to  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  their 
Aviation  Division,  who  very  kindly 
gave  me  a  comrade  as  guide,  and 
150 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

placed  an  auto  at  my  disposal.  The 
same  morning  I  rode  to  Fischamend. 
As  it  was  Sunday,  I  could  not  do 
anything  in  a  military  way,  and  so 
toward  evening  my  guide  and  I  took 
a  trip  through  Vienna,  and  I  let  him 
point  out  the  spots  of  interest  to  me. 

July  10,  1916 
Early  in  the  morning  we  were  on 
the  aviation  field  at  Aspern,  which 
is  somewhat  like  Adlershof .  Here  I 
saw  some  very  interesting  machines ; 
for  the  first  time  I  saw  an  Italian 
Caproni.  Also,  I  was  shown  a 
French  machine,  in  which  a  crazy 
Frenchman  tried  to  fly  from  Nancy 
to  Russia,  via  Berlin.  He  almost 
succeeded.  They  say  he  got  as  far 
as  the  east  front,  and  was  brought 
151 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

down  there  after  flying  almost  ten 
hours.  They  said  he  was  over  Ber- 
lin at  12:30  at  night.  Then  there 
were  some  very  peculiar-looking 
Austrian  'planes. 

In  the  afternoon  I  reported  to  the 
Colonel,  who  advised  me  to  see  the 
flying  in  the  mountains  near  Trient 
on  my  way  back  from  the  Balkans. 
I  do  not  know  yet  whether  or  not  I 
will  be  able  to  do  this ;  it  all  depends 
on  time  and  circumstances. 

In  the  late  afternoon  I  went  up  on 
the  Kahlenberg  to  see  Vienna  from 
there.  I  took  the  trip  with  a  man 
and  his  wife,  whom  I  had  met  on  the 
train.  They  seemed  very  pleased  at. 
having  my  company,  and  lost  no  op- 
portunity to  tell  me  this.  To  add  to 
my  discomfiture,  a  reporter  inter- 
152 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

viewed  me  on  the  way  back;  he  was 
the  first  I  have  met  so  far.  The  fel- 
low had  heard  by  chance  that  I  was 
in  Vienna  and  had  followed  me  for 
two  days.  He  sat  opposite  me  on  the 
inclined  railway  and  I  had  a  lot  of 
fun  keeping  him  guessing.  He  was 
very  disappointed  that  he  had  no 
success  with  me,  but  finally  consoled 
himself  with  the  thought  of  having 
spoken  with  me.  In  the  evening  I 
strolled  around  Vienna  —  the  city 
makes  a  much  quieter  impression 
than  Berlin.  One  feels  that  Vienna 
is  more  a  quiet  home  town  than  a 
modern  city. 

July  11,  1916 
To  avoid  the  dreary  railroad  jour- 
ney from  Vienna  to  Budapest,  I  am 
153 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

taking  the  steamer,  and  will  catch 
the  Balkan  train  at  Budapest.  In 
that  way  I  will  see  and  enjoy  the 
scenery  much  more.  Even  if  the 
trip  cannot  compare  with  one  on  the 
Ehine,  it  is  still  very  beautiful.  To 
Pressburg  the  country  is  hilly;  then 
it  is  flat  country,  with  trees,  and 
often  forests,  on  the  banks.  On  the 
trip  a  twelve-year-old  boy  recog- 
nized my  face  and  would  not  leave 
me  after  that.  He  was  a  very  amus- 
ing chap;  knew  almost  the  dates  of 
the  days  on  which  I  had  brought 
down  my  various  opponents.  The 
worst  thing  he  knew  of,  so  he 
told  me,  was  that  his  aunt  did  not 
even  know  who  Immelmann  was.  At 
Komorn  the  character  of  the  Danube 
changes  completely.  The  meadows 
164 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

on  the  right  disappear,  and  hills 
take  their  place.  The  left  bank  is 
still  rather  flat.  From  Grau,  where 
I  photographed  the  beautiful  St. 
Johannes  Church,  to  Waitzen,  the 
country  resembles  the  Rhine  Valley 
very  much.  From  Waitzen  to  Buda- 
pest, the  country  is  level,  but  in  the 
distance  one  can  see  wooded  hills  and 
the  city  of  Budapest,  over  which  the 
sun  was  just  setting  as  we  arrived. 
The  most  beautiful  of  all,  is  Buda- 
pest itself.  It  makes  a  very  imposing 
impression;  to  the  left,  the  palace 
and  the  old  castle;  to  the  right,  the 
hotels  and  public  buildings;  above 
all,  the  Parliament  Building. 

July*  12,  1916 
Slept  real  late  and  then  walked  to 
155 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

the  castle,  where  I  got  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  city. 

In  the  afternoon  I  took  a  wagon 
and  rode  with  Lieutenant  F.  through 
Of  en  to  the  Margareten  Island.  We 
passed  the  Parliament  and  went  to 
the  city  park,  where  we  ate  a  lot  of 
cake  at  Kugler's.  From  there  we 
walked  to  the  docks.  The  evening,  I 
spent  with  some  Germans. 

Budapest  makes  a  very  modern 
impression;  some  of  the  women  are 
ultra-modern. 

July  13,  1916 

Slept  while  passing  through  Bel- 
grade. Woke  up  in  the  middle  of 
Servia,  while  passing  a  station  where 
music  was  playing.  Eode  along  the 
Morave  Valley;  it  is  wide  and 
flanked  with  hills.  There  are  many 
166 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

cornfields  and  meadows,  with  cows 
grazing.  From  Nisch  (a  city  of  low 
houses)  we  passed  through  a  small 
valley  bordered  with  high,  rocky, 
hills.  Along  the  Bulgarian  Morave, 
Pirot  (Bulgaria),  the  district  be- 
comes a  plateau,  with  mountains  in 
the  distance.  The  country  is  very 
rocky,  and  there  is  very  little  farm- 
ing. The  nearer  you  get  to  Sofia  the 
more  the  country  becomes  farm  land. 
Finally,  it  merges  into  a  broad  level 
plain,  with  the  Balkans  in  the  back- 
ground. Sofia:  a  small  station,  and 
small  houses.    It  was  getting  dark. 

July  14,  1916 
Slept  through  Adrianople  on  my 
way  to  Turkey.    Passed  through  the 
customs. 

157 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Country:  Mountainous;  little  de- 
veloped; no  trees,  but  now  and  then 
villages,  with  a  few  little  houses, 
thatched  with  straw,  and  scattered. 
For  little  stretches  the  country  is 
covered  with  bushes.  Most  of  the 
country  is  uncultivated,  but  here 
and  there  you  see  a  corn  or  potato 
field. 

The  railroad  is  a  one-track  affair, 
with  very  few  sidings.  Service  very 
poor  now,  due  to  the  war ;  long  waits 
at  the  stations. 

The  people  are  poorly  clothed,  with 
gaudy  sashes  and  queer  headpieces. 
Just  at  present  they  are  celebrating 
some  fast  days. 

The  women  work  like  the  men,  but 
always  have  a  cloth  wrapped  around 
their  heads.  We  met  a  military 
168 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

transport;  the  men  are  brown  and 
healthy  looking.  Their  whole  equip- 
ment seemed  German  in  origin. 

Near  the  ocean,  the  farming  is 
carried  on  on  a  large  scale. 

At  the  Bay  of  Kutshuk,  I  saw 
camels  grazing,  for  the  first  time. 

The  ocean  itself  seemed  brown, 
green,  violet — all  colors.  At  the 
shore  people  were  swimming,  and 
there  were  two  anti-aircraft  guns 
mounted. 

St.  Stefano  is  an  Oriental  town 
in  every  sense  of  the  word.  At  the 
shore  there  are  neat  little  European 
houses.  Here,  there  is  a  wireless  sta- 
tion, etc.,  just  as  in  Johannistal. 

Then  came  Constantinople.  From 
the  train,  you  cannot  see  much; 
mostly  old,  dirty  houses,  that  look  as 
159 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

if  they  were  ready  to  topple  over  at 
the  first  puff  of  wind. 

At  the  station,  I  was  met  by  sev- 
eral German  aviators,  and  taken  to 
the  hotel. 

The  evening,  I  spent  with  some 
officers  and  a  number  of  gentlemen 
from  the  German  Embassy. 

July  15,  1916 
Early  in  the  morning  I  tode  to  the 
Great  Headquarters  and  reported  to 
Enver  Pasha,  who  personally  gave 
me  the  Iron  Crescent.  Enver,  who  is 
still  young,  impressed  me  as  a  very 
agreeable,  energetic,  man.  Then  I 
went  through  the  Bazar,  with  an  in- 
terpreter. This  is  a  network  of 
streets,  alleys  and  loopholes,  in  which 
everything  imaginable  is  sold.  Then 
160 


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AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

went  to  the  Agia  Sofia,  the  largest 
mosque,  and  to  the  Sultan  Ahmed, 
which  has  been  changed  to  a  bar- 
racks. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  the 
General  (the  ship  on  which  the  Ger- 
man naval  officers  live).  In  the  eve- 
ning we  were  in  the  Petit  Champ, 
a  little  garden  in  which  a  German 
naval  band  played. 

My  valet  amuses  me.  He  is  very 
unhappy,  because  he  cannot  feel  at 
home,  and  is  being  cheated  right  and 
left  by  the  people.  He  had  pictured 
Turkey  to  be  an  entirely  different 
sort  of  a  place.  He  was  very  indig- 
nant because  the  merchants  start  at 
three  o^clock,  at  night,  to  go  through 
the  streets  selling  their  wares. 

161 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

July  16,  1916 
In  the  morning  I  went  out  to  the 
General  with  Lieutenant  H.  to  see 
a  U-boat. 

In  the  afternoon,  a  Greek  funeral 
passed  the  hotel.  The  cover  of  the 
coffin  is  carried  ahead  and  the  corpse 
can  be  seen  in  the  coffin. 

Later,  I  wandered  around  in  Ga- 
lata  and  saw  the  Sultan,  who  was 
just  coming  out  of  a  mosque.  First, 
mounted  policemen  came ;  then  there 
was  a  mounted  bodyguard;  then  ad- 
jutant; then  the  Sultan  in  a  coach 
with  four  horses ;  then  the  same  reti- 
nue again,  in  reverse  order. 

July  17,  1916 
This   morning,    I   at   last   had   a 
chance   to    see    something   of   their 
16^ 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

aviation.  We  rode  through  the  city 
in  an  auto:  through  Stamboul, 
along  the  old  Byzantine  city  wall, 
past  the  cemetery,  and  a  number  of 
barracks,  through  the  dreary  district 
to  St.  Stefano,  and  looked  over  the 
aviation  station  there.  Here,  Major 
S.  has  made  himself  quite  a  neat  bit 
out  of  nothing  at  all.  Naturally,  un- 
der present  conditions,  it  is  very 
hard  for  him  to  get  the  necessary 
materials  of  all  sorts. 

In  the  afternoon  I  was  a  guest  on 
board  the  General. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  Cap- 
tain D.  and  other  gentlemen,  through 
the  Bosphorus  to  Therapia,  where 
the  German  cemetery  is  wonderfully 
situated.  Then  we  inspected  a  shoe 
factory  at  Beikos,  and,  later,  went 
163 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

to  the  Goeben  and  Breslau,  where  I 
had  a  splendid  reception.  After  a 
brief  inspection  of  both  boats,  we  ate 
supper  and  enjoyed  a  concert  on 
deck.  On  leaving,  Captain  A.,  com- 
mander of  the  Goehen^  drank  a  toast 
to  me.  Who  would  have  believed  this 
possible  a  few  years  ago. 

July  18,  1916 
To-day  I  took  a  pleasure  spin  on 
the  Sea  of  Marmora,  with  S.'s  ad- 
jutant, and  his  motorboat.  We 
passed  the  Sultan's  palace  and  went 
to  Skutari,  where  I  made  a  short 
stop.  Then  we  went  to  the  Princes' 
Islands,  where  we  landed  at  Prince- 
pu.  Princepu  is  to  Constantinople 
what  Grunewald  or  Wannsee  is  to 
Berlin.  It  is  a  wonderful  island, 
hilly  and  situated  in  the  middle 
164 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

of  the  sea.  All  the  wealthy  have 
summer  homes  here,  and  most  of 
Constantinople  takes  a  trip  here 
Saturday  and  Sunday.  In  the  Ca- 
sino, from  which  there  is  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  sea,  we  drank  coffee. 
Toward  evening  we  reached  home, 
after  first  sailing  around  the  neigh- 
boring islands,  on  one  of  which  the 
captured  defender  of  Kut-el-Amara 
lives  in  a  very  nice  villa. 

July  19,  1916 

At  nine,  we  left  for  Panderma. 
The  Sea  of  Marmora  was  quite 
calm ;  at  first  there  were  some  waves, 
but  later  it  was  very  still.  The  ship 
was  filled  with  natives;  quite  a  few 
women,  and  some  officers.  Pander- 
ma: a  small  seaport  (many  small 
165 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

sail-boats),  situated  at  the  foot  of  a 
mountain,  and  made  up,  mostly,  of 
small  frame  houses.  We  were  met 
by  small  government  vessels,  while 
the  others  were  taken  off  by  native 
boats.  After  a  short  wait,  we  start- 
ed our  trip  in  a  Pullman  car  (the 
train  was  made  up  specially  for  us). 
As  far  as  Manias  Gor  the  country  is 
monotonous;  a  few  boats  on  the  sea, 
and  quite  a  few  storks.  In  the  Sur- 
sulu-Su  Valley  there  are  more  vil- 
lages, well-built,  meadows,  fruit 
trees,  and  large  herds  of  oxen  and 
flocks  of  sheep.  A  good  road  runs 
next  to  the  railroad.  Then  it  be- 
came dark.  Slept  well  after  a  good 
supper. 


166 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

July  20,  1916 
Woke  up  south  of  Akbissal.  Coun- 
try very  pretty,  cultivated  and  fer- 
tile, with  many  herds  of  cattle; 
caravans  of  camel,  with  a  mule  as 
leader. 

The  plains  became  more  pretty  as 
we  went  on.  Smyrna  is  beautifully 
situated.  At  the  station  I  met  Bud- 
decke  and  several  other  men.  I  got 
a  room  in  the  Hotel  Kramer,  right 
at  the  sea.  From  my  balcony  I  have 
a  view  over  the  whole  Gulf  of 
Smyrna.  In  the  afternoon,  I  took  a 
walk  after  reporting  to  His  Excel- 
lency Liman-Sanders.  Went  through 
the  Bazar,  which  is  not  so  large  as 
in  Stamboul. 


167 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

July  21,  1916 
At  ten  we  went  to  the  aviation 
field  at  Svedi  Kos,  south  of  Smyrna. 
The  aviators  live  in  a  school.  Close 
to  the  field  there  are  the  tents  of  a 
division.  The  Turkish  soldiers  made 
a  good  impression. 

July  22,  1916 
In  the  morning  went  swimming 
at  Cordelio,  with  several  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  Buddecke  met  us  with 
a  yacht.  We  had  a  fine  sail.  The 
view  of  the  hills  from  the  gulf  was 
beautiful. 

July  23,  1916 
In   the   morning,    again   went   to 
Cordelio  for  a  swim,  and  took  some 
jolly  pictures. 

168 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

July  24,  1916 
Slept  late.    In  the  afternoon  took 
a  sail  with  several  gentlemen  to  the 
future  landing  spot  for  seaplanes. 

July  25,  1916 

In  the  morning  I  strolled  about 

alone    in    the    outlying    parts    of 

Smyrna.     Here,   things   look  much 

more  '^ oriental.'^ 

Now  I  have  to  take  the  long  trip 
to  Constantinople  via  Panderma, 
then  to  the  Dardanelles.  I  lose  eight 
days  this  way,  for  which  I  am  ex- 
ceedingly sorry.  In  an  airplane,  I 
could  make  it  in  two  and  a  half 
hours,  but  Buddecke  will  not  let  me 
have  any.  He  has  a  thousand  and  one 
reasons  for  not  giving  me  one,  but  I 
believe  he  has  instructions  to  that 

effect. 

169 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

July  29,  1916 
On  July  28tli  I  went  aboard  a  gun- 
boat bound  for  Chanak,  with  a  tow. 
Gallipoli  is  a  village,  with  a  number 
of  outlying  barracks.  Several  houses 
on  the  shore  were  destroyed  by  gun- 
fire. Arrived  in  Chanak  toward 
noon,  and  went  to  Merten-Pasha  to 
report.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  to 
the  aviation  field  and  fiew  over 
Troy — Kum  Kale — Sedil  Bar,  to  the 
old  English  position.  The  fiight  was 
beautiful,  and  the  islands  of  Imbros 
and  Tenedos  were  as  if  fioating  on 
the  clear  sea.  In  the  Bay  of  Imbros 
we  could  plainly  see  the  English 
ships.  Outside  of  the  usual  maze  of 
trenches  we  could  plainly  see  the 
old  English  camps.  Close  to  Thal- 
aka  there  was  an  English  U-Boat 
170 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

and  a  Turkish  cruiser,  both  sunk, 
and  lying  partly  out  of  water.  At 
Sedil  Bar,  a  number  of  steamers  and 
a  French  battleship  were  aground. 
The  dead,  hilly  peninsula  was  plain- 
ly visible.  At  Kilid  Bar,  there  were 
large  Turkish  barracks. 

July  30,  1916 
Went  on  a  small  steamer  to  Sedil 
Bar.  We  got  off  a  little  before  we 
reached  our  destination,  to  go  over 
the  whole  position  with  a  naval  of- 
ficer, who  awaited  us.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  Turkish  and  Eng- 
lish positions  was  striking.  The 
English,  of  course,  had  had  more 
and  better  material  to  work  with. 
ISTow  it  is  nothing  but  a  deserted 
wreck.  Then  I  looked  at  the  Eng- 
171 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

lish  landing  places.  Here,  the  Eng- 
lishman had  simply  run  a  few  steam- 
ers aground  to  protect  themselves. 
After  a  hasty  breakfast,  I  flew  to  D. 
with  M.  and  from  there,  along  the 
north  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora, 
to  St.  Stef  ano. 

July  31,  1916 
To-day  was  Bairam  (Turkish 
Easter).  Flags  everywhere;  people 
all  dressed  in  their  best;  large 
crowds  on  the  street ;  sale  of  crescent 
flowers  on  the  streets,  and  parades. 

August  1,  1916 
After  a  short  stay  in  the  War  De- 
partment and  the  Bazar,  I  left  for 
Constantinople.  Enver  Pasha  trav- 
els on  the  same  train.  He  had  me 
brought  to  him  by  his  servant  at  tea 
172 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

time.  He  was  very  talkative  and 
interesting,  and  talked  almost  only 
German. 

August  2,  1916 

Toward  eleven  o'clock,  after  an 
enjoyable  trip  through  a  well-culti- 
vated section  of  Rumania,  I  arrived 
in  Sofia,  after  passing  a  Turkish 
military  train.  Here  I  was  received 
by  a  number  of  German  aviators. 
In  the  afternoon,  took  a  trip  through 
Sofia,  which  makes  the  same  im- 
pression as  one  of  the  central  Ger- 
man capitals.  Short  visit  in  the 
cadet  school,  then  went  to  the  large 
cathedral. 

August  3,  1916 

The  military  finish  I  noticed  in 
the  cadet  school  the  day  before  im- 
pressed   me    favorably.     H.    and    I 
173 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

went  to  the  aviation  field  in  Sofia; 
most  of  the  machines  were  Ottos. 

In  the  afternoon,  I  went  to  the 
flying  school  with  H.  Our  guide, 
Captain  P.,  showed  us  as  special  at- 
traction a  Bleriot,  which  he  had. 
The  school  is  still  in  the  first  stages 
of  development.  From  there  we  went 
to  the  resort  called  Banje,  which  is 
nicely  located. 

In  the  evening,  I  was  at  supper 
with  a  military  attache,  and  met 
Prince  Kyrill.  He  interested  me 
very  much,  and  talked  quite  intel- 
ligently about  a  number  of  things. 

ArousT  4,  1916 

Early  in  the  morning,  I  reported 

to  the  Bulgarian  Secretary  of  War, 

who  conversed  with  me  for  a  long 

174 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

while.  He  is  small  in  stature  and 
talks  German  fluently.  Then  I  vis- 
ited a  cavalry  barracks,  where  I  also 
saw  the  new  machine-gun  companies. 
Toward  evening  I  took  a  stroll  in 
the  Boris  Gardens,  and  admired  the 
beauty  of  Sofia. 

ArorsT  5,  1916 
After  an  audience  with  the  Bulga- 
rian Chief  of  Staff,  I  went  to  Uskub 
via  Kustendil  in  an  auto.  Fischer,  my 
valet,  who  was  along,  had  to  get  out 
en  route  to  make  all  our  train  ar- 
rangements. In  Kustendil,  I  stopped 
over,  and  at  the  Casino  I  was  with 
the  Bulgarian  Chief  of  Staff.  Then 
there  was  an  interesting  trip  to  Us- 
kub, where  I  arrived  at  nine  o'clock. 

•      175 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

August  6,  1916 
In  the  afternoon  I  was  with  Gen- 
eral Mackensen,  and  sat  next  to  him 
at  the  table.  Mackensen  talked  with 
me  for  quite  a  while.  He  is  serious- 
looking,  but  not  nearly  as  stern  as  his 
pictures  lead  one  to  believe. 

Later,  I  went  by  train  to  Hudova, 
and  reached  aviation  headquarters, 
where  I  was  given  a  fine  welcome  in 
the  barracks.  The  aviators  all  live 
in  wooden  shacks,  in  a  dreary  neigh- 
borhood. This  is  not  an  enviable 
place  to  be,  especially  since  they  have 
had  nothing  to  do  for  months. 

August.  7,  1916 

In  the  morning  I  paid  a  visit  to 

another  division  of  flyers,  and  with 

Captain  E.    I  flew  up  and  down  the 

176 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Greek  front.    Then  I  went  back  to 
Uskub,  where  I  spent  the  night. 

August  8,  1916 
Went  back  to  Sofia  in  the  auto. 
Had  several  punctures,  which  were 
really  funny,  because  my  Bulgarian 
chauffeur  and  I  could  converse  by 
sign  language  only.  On  the  road, 
not  far  from  Kumanova,  there  was 
a  Macedonian  fair,  which  was  very 
interesting.  The  peasants,  in  white 
clothes,  danced  an  odd  but  pretty 
dance,  to  music  played  on  bagpipes 
and  other  instrmnents. 

August  9,  1916 

This   morning,    shortly   before    I 

left,  I  received  a  Bulgarian  medal 

for  courage.    This  was  presented  to 

177 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

me  by  the  adjutant  of  the  Minister 
of  War,  together  with  the  latter 's 
picture.  I  am  now  going  to  the  Aus- 
trian headquarters,  from  where  I 
mean  to  see  the  east  front.  I  don't 
know  yet  how  I  will  get  the  time. 

ArousT  10,  1916 
In  the  afternoon,  short  auto  ride; 
in  the  evening,  reported  to  General 
Conrad. 

AuorsT  11,  1916 
Presented    myself    at    Archduke 
Frederick's  and  met  General  Cram- 
on.    At  eleven  o'clock,  went  on  to- 
ward Kovel. 

August  12,  1916 
Arrived  in  Kovel  about  eight.  Re- 
ported to  General  Linsingen. 
178 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Atjgtjst  15,  1916 
Rode  to  Brest,  which  is  gutted  by 
fire. 

August  16, 1916 
Reported  to  General  Ludendorff. 
Before  eating  was  presented  to  Field 
Marshal  Hindenburg.  At  table^  sat 
between  Hindenburg  and  Luden- 
dorff.  In  the  afternoon,  flew  to 
Warsaw. 

August  17,  1916 
Eode  to  Wilna. 

August  18,  1916 
Rode  to  Kovno  and  then  to  Berlin. 


179 


TO  THE  FORTIETH  VICTORY 
(Fleet  Battles) 


181 


w. 


Eh 

m 


O 


Starting  on  His  Last  Ride 
October  28,  1916—5  p.m. 


TO  THE  FORTIETH  VICTORY 
(Fleet  Battles) 

Letter  of  September  4,  1916 
Dear  Parents: 

To  your  surprise,  you  no  doubt 
have  read  of  my  twentieth  victory. 
You  probably  did  not  expect  I  would 
be  doing  much  flying  while  arrang- 
ing my  new  division. 

A  few  days  ago  two  new  Fokkers 
arrived  for  me,  and  yesterday  I 
made  my  first  flight.  At  the  front, 
the  enemy  was  very  active.  They 
have  grown  quite  rash.  While  I  was 
enjoying  a  peaceful  sail  behind  our 
lines,  one  came  to  attack  me.  I  paid 
no  attention  to  him  (he  was  higher 
than  I).  A  little  later  I  saw  bombs 
183 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

bursting  near  P.  Here  I  found  a 
B.-E.  biplane,  and  with  him  three 
Vickers'  one-man  machines,  evident- 
ly a  scout  with  its  protectors.  I  at- 
tacked the  B.-E.,  but  in  the  midst 
of  my  work  the  other  three  dis- 
turbed me  so  I  had  to  run.  One  of 
them  thought  he  could  get  me  in 
spite  of  this,  and  followed  me.  A 
little  apart  from  the  rest,  I  offered 
battle,  and  soon  I  had  him.  I  did 
not  let  him  go;  he  had  no  more  am- 
munition left.  In  descending,  he 
swayed  heavily  from  side  to  side. 
As  he  said  later,  this  was  involun- 
tary; I  had  crippled  his  machine. 
He  came  down  northeast  of  Th.  The 
aviator  jumped  out  of  his  burning 
machine  and  beat  about  with  hands 
and  feet,  for  he  was  also  afire.  I 
184 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

went  home  to  get  fresh  supplies  of 
cartridges  and  start  anew,  for  more 
Englishmen  were  coming.  But  I  had 
no  success.  Yesterday  I  got  the 
Englishman,  whom  I  had  captured, 
from  the  prisoners'  camp  and  took 
him  to  the  Casino  for  coffee.  I 
showed  him  our  aviation  field  and 
learned  a  lot  of  interesting  things 
from  him.  My  field  is  slowly  near- 
ing  completion  and  I  am  exceedingly 
busy. 

September  17,  1916 
In  the  meantime,  I  have  made  my 
total  twenty-five. 

Niunber  21  I  tackled  single-han- 
ded.   The  fight  with  this  Vickers  bi- 
plane did  not  take  very  long.    I  at- 
tacked him  at  an  angle  from  behind 
185 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

(the  best;  to  get  him  from  directly 
behind  is  not  so  good,  since  the  mo- 
tor acts  as  a  protection).  In  vain 
he  tried  to  get  out  of  this  poor  posi- 
tion; I  did  not  give  him  the  chance. 
I  came  so  close  to  him  that  my  ma- 
chine was  smutted  by  the  ensuing 
explosion  of  his  'plane.  He  fell, 
twisting  like  a  boomerang.  The  ob- 
server fell  out  of  the  machine  before 
it  struck. 

Number  22  was  quite  bold;  with 
his  companions,  he  was  sailing  over 
our  front,  attacking  our  machines. 
This  was  too  bad  for  him  as  well  as 
one  of  his  friends,  who  was  shot 
down  by  two  Rumplers.  Number  22 
fell  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  21 
fell  the  day  before,  only  he  landed 
within  his  own  lines. 
186 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

Number  23  was  a  hard  one,  I  had 
headed  off  the  squadron  he  was  with 
and  picked  the  second  one.  He  start- 
ed to  get  away.  The  third  attacked 
Lieutenant  R.,  and  was  soon  en- 
gaged by  Lieutenants  B.  and  R.,  but, 
nevertheless,  escaped  within  his  own 
lines.  My  opponent  pretended  to 
fall  after  the  first  shots.  I  knew  this 
trick,  and  followed  him  closely.  He 
really  was  trying  to  escape  to  his 
own  lines.  He  did  not  succeed.  At 
M.  he  fell.  His  wings  broke  off  and 
the  machine  broke  into  pieces.  As 
he  lies  so  far  behind  our  front  I  did 
not  get  a  chance  to  inspect  the 
wreck.  Once,  however,  I  flew  over 
it  at  a  very  low  altitude. 

After  a  short  while  I  saw  several 
Englishmen  circling  over  P.  When 
187 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

I  got  nearer,  they  wanted  to  attack 
me.  As  I  was  lower,  I  paid  no  at- 
tention to  them,  but  turned  away. 
As  they  saw  I  would  not  fight,  one 
of  them  attacked  another  German 
machine.  I  could  not  allow  this  to 
go  on.  I  attacked  him  and  he  soon 
had  to  suffer  for  it.  I  shot  up  his 
gasoline  and  oil  tanks  and  wounded 
him  in  the  right  thigh.  He  landed 
and  was  captured.  That  was  Num- 
ber 24. 

Number  25  had  to  wait  till  the 
next  day.  A  fleet  of  seven  English- 
men passed  over  our  field.  Behind 
them  I  rose  and  cut  off  their  retreat. 
At  P.  I  got  near  them.  I  was  the 
lower  and,  therefore,  almost  defense- 
less. This  they  took  advantage  of, 
and  attacked  me.  Nerve!  But  I 
188 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

soon  turned  the  tables  and  got  my 
sights  on  one  of  them.  I  got  nice 
and  close  to  him,  and  let  him  have 
about  500  shots  at  forty  meters. 
Then  he  had  enough.  Lieutenant 
von  R.  fired  a  few  more  shots  at  him, 
but  he  was  finished  without  them. 
At  H.  he  fell  in  a  forest  and  was 
completely  wrecked. 

Things  are  very  lively  here. 
The  Englishmen  always  appear  in 
swarms.  I  regret  I  did  not  have 
enough  machines  for  all  my  men. 
Yesterday  the  first  consignment  ar- 
rived. The  other  half  will  come  very 
soon.  They  shot  down  two  English- 
men yesterday,  and  there  wont  be 
many  Englishmen  left  in  a  little 
while. 

Yesterday,  my  officer  for  special 
189 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

service  arrived;  lie  will  relieve  me 
of  a  lot  of  work.  Nevertheless,  my 
time  is  well  occupied,  even  when  not 
flying.  There  is  a  lot  to  do  if  one 
has  to  make  a  division  out  of  prac- 
tically nothing.  But  it  pleases  me 
to  see  things  gradually  work  out  as 
I  plan  them. 

LATER 

In  the  meantime,  things  have 
changed  considerably.  Two  of  my 
men  and  I  got  into  an  English 
squadron  and  had  a  thorough  house- 
cleaning.  Each  of  us  brought  down 
an  Englishman.  We  are  getting 
along  fine ;  since  last  night  five  Eng- 
lishmen. I  shot  down  the  leader, 
which  I  recognized  by  little  flags  on 
190 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

one  of  the  planes.  He  landed  at  E. 
and  set  Ms  machine  afire.  His  ob- 
server was  slightly  wounded.  When 
I  arrived  in  an  auto  they  had  both 
been  taken  away.  He  had  landed  be- 
cause I  had  shot  his  engine  to  pieces. 

Lettek  of  October  8,  1916 
Yesterday  you  read  of  Number  30, 
but   even   that   is   a   back   number. 
Number  31  has  followed  its  prede- 
cessors. 

On  September  17th  came  Number 
27.  With  some  of  my  men  I  at- 
tacked a  squadron  of  P.-E.  biplanes 
on  the  way  back  from  C.  Of  these, 
we  shot  down  six  out  of  eight.  Only 
two  escaped.  I  picked  out  the  leader, 
and  shot  up  his  engine  so  he  had  to 
land.  It  landed  right  near  one  of 
191 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

our  kite-balloons.  They  were  hardly 
down  when  the  whole  airplane  was 
ablaze.  It  seems  they  have  some 
means  of  destroying  their  machine 
as  soon  as  it  lands.  On  September 
19th  six  of  us  got  into  an  English 
squadron.  Below  us  were  the  ma- 
chines with  lattice-work  tails,  and 
above  were  some  Morans,  as  protec- 
tion. One  of  these  I  picked  out,  and 
sailed  after  him.  For  a  moment  he 
escaped  me,  but  west  of  B.  I  caught 
up  with  him.  One  machine  gun 
januned,  but  the  other  I  used  with 
telling  effect.  At  short  range,  I  fired 
at  him  till  he  fell  in  a  big  blaze. 
During  all  this,  he  handled  him- 
self very  cliunsily.  This  was  Num- 
ber 28. 
On  September  27th  I  met  seven 
192 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

English  machiiies,  near  B.  I  had 
started  on  a  patrol  flight  with  four 
of  my  men,  and  we  saw  a  squadron 
I  first  thought  was  German.  When 
we  met  southwest  of  B.,  I  saw  they 
were  enemy  'planes.  We  were  lower 
and  I  changed  my  course.  The  Eng- 
lishmen passed  us,  flew  over  to  us, 
flew  around  our  kite-balloon  and 
then  set  out  for  their  own  front. 
However,  in  the  meantime,  we  had 
reached  their  height  and  cut  off  their 
retreat.  I  gave  the  signal  to  attack, 
and  a  general  battle  started.  I  at- 
tacked one;  got  too  close;  ducked 
under  him  and,  turning,  saw  an  Eng- 
lishman fall  like  a  plummet. 

As  there  were  enough  others  left 
I  picked  out  a  new  one.    He  tried  to 
escape,  but  I  followed  him.    I  fired 
193 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

round  after  round  into  him.  His 
stamina  surprised  me.  I  felt  he 
should  have  fallen  long  ago,  but  he 
kept  going  in  the  same  circle.  Fin- 
ally, it  got  too  much  for  me.  I  knew 
he  was  dead  long  ago,  and  by  some 
freak,  or  due  to  elastic  controls,  he 
did  not  change  his  course.  I  flew 
quite  close  to  him  and  saw  the  pilot 
lying  dead,  half  out  of  his  seat.  To 
know  later  which  was  the  'plane  I 
had  shot  down  (for  eventually  he 
must  fall),  I  noted  the  number — 
7495.  Then  I  left  him  and  attacked 
the  next  one.  He  escaped,  but  I  left 
my  mark  on  him.  As  I  passed  close 
under  him  I  saw  a  great  hole  I  had 
made  in  his  fuselage.  He  will  prob- 
ably not  forget  this  day.  I  had  to 
work  like  a  Trojan. 
194 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

Number  30  was  very  simple.  I 
surprised  a  scout  above  our  front 
— ^we  call  these  scouts  ^^Haschen" 
(rabbits) — fired  at  him;  lie  tilted, 
and  disappeared. 

The  fall  of  Number  31  was  a  won- 
derful sight.  We,  five  men  and  my- 
self, were  amusing  ourselves  attack- 
ing every  French  or  English  machine 
we  saw,  and  firing  our  guns  to  test 
them.  This  did  not  please  our  op- 
ponents at  all.  Suddenly,  far  be- 
low me,  I  saw  one  fellow  circling 
about,  and  I  went  after  him.  At 
close  range  I  fired  at  him,  aiming 
steadily.  He  made  things  easy  for 
me,  flying  a  straight  course.  I  stayed 
twenty  or  thirty  meters  behind  him 
and  pounded  him  till  he  exploded 
with  a  great  yellow  flare.  We  can- 
195 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

not  caU  this  a  fight,  because  I  sur- 
prised my  opponent. 

Ever3i:hing  goes  well  with  me; 
healthy,  good  food,  good  quarters, 
good  companions,  and  plenty  to  do. 

October  19,  1916 
My  flying  has  been  quite  success- 
ful in  the  last  few  days. 

On  October  13th  some  of  my  men 
and  I  got  into  a  fleet  of  Vickers  ma- 
chines of  about  equal  number.  They 
did  not  care  to  fight,  and  tried  to  get 
away.  We  went  after  them.  I  at- 
tacked one,  saw  that  Lieutenant  K. 
was  already  after  him,  picked  an- 
other, attacked  him  above  P.  and 
fired  two  volleys  at  him.  I  descend- 
ed about  400  meters  doing  this  and 
196 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

had  to  let  Mm  go,  because  two  others 
were  after  me,  which  I  did  not  ap- 
preciate. He  had  to  land  at  his  ar- 
tillery positions,  however. 

On  the  15th  of  October,  there  was 
a  lot  to  do.  Lately,  the  English  at- 
tack at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  because  they  have  the  no- 
tion that  we  are  asleep.  Just  at  this 
hour  we  went  out.  Between  T.  and 
S.  we  had  a  housecleaning ;  that  is, 
we  attacked  and  chased  every  Eng- 
lishman we  could  find.  I  regret  that 
during  this  only  one  fell  (M.  shot 
down  his  fourth) .  Shortly  after  that 
I  saw  a  scout  amusing  himself  above 
the  lines.  I  attacked  and  finished 
him  first  thing;  I  guess  I  must  have 
killed  the  pilot  instantly.  The  ma- 
chine crashed  to  earth  so  violently 
197 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

that  it  raised  a  huge  cloud  of  dust. 
That  was  Number  33. 

On  October  10th,  in  the  afternoon, 
I  got  into  a  fleet  of  six  Vickers'  ma- 
chines. I  had  a  fine  time.  The  Eng- 
lish leader  came  just  right  for  me, 
and  I  settled  it  after  the  first  attack. 
With  the  pilot  dead,  it  fell,  and 
I  watched  till  it  struck,  and  then 
picked  out  another.  My  men  were 
having  a  merry  time  with  the  other 
Englishmen.  One  Englishman  fa- 
vored me  by  coming  quite  close  to 
me,  and  I  followed  him  close  to  the 
ground.  Still,  by  skillful  flying,  he 
escaped. 

The  day  was  a  good  one  for  my 
command.  Lieutenant  R.  brought 
down  his  fifth,  and  Lieutenant  S.  got 
one,  so  that  in  all  we  got  five  that 
day.  198 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

On  the  16th  I  got  Number  35.  Af- 
ter some  fruitless  flying  I  saw  six 
Vickers  over  our  lines.  These  I  fol- 
lowed, with  Lieutenant  B.  From 
command — ^there  were  also  three  ma- 
chines present.  Lieutenant  Leffers 
attacked  one  and  forced  him  to 
earth  (his  eighth).  The  others  were 
all  grouped  together  in  a  bunch.  I 
picked  out  the  lowest  and  forced  him 
to  earth.  The  Englishmen  did  not 
try  to  help  him,  but  let  me  have  him, 
unmolested.  After  the  second  volley 
he  caught  fire  and  fell. 

It  is  peculiar  that  so  many  of  my 
opponents  catch  fire.  The  others,  in 
jest,  say  it  is  mental  suggestion; 
they  say  all  I  need  do  is  attack  one 
of  the  enemy  and  he  catches  fire  or, 
at  least,  loses  a  wing. 
199 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

The  last  few  days  we  had  poor 
weather,    Nothing  to  do. 

THE  LAST  REPORTS 

October  20,  1916 
At  10 :  30  in  the  morning,  five  of 
my  men  and  I  attacked  a  squadron 
of  six  P.-E.  biplanes,  coming  from 
D.  The  machine  I  attacked  fell  in 
its  own  lines  after  first  losing  its  ob- 
server. 

It  is  lying,  a  wreck,  five  hundred 
meters  west  of  A. 

October  22,  1916 
11 :  45 — Several  of  my  men  and  I 
headed  off  two  enemy  biplanes  com- 
ing from  the  east.    Both  fell.     The 
one  I  attacked  was  shot  apart. 
200 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

October  22,  1916 
About  3 :  40  in  the  afternoon  I  saw 
an  English  machine  attack  two  of 
onr  biplanes.  I  attacked  immediate- 
ly, and  forced  him  to  land,  although 
he  tried  to  escape. 

Southwest  of  the  forest  at  G.  he 
landed  in  a  huge  shell-hole  and  broke 
his  machine.  The  pilot  was  thrown 
out. 

October  25,  1916 
This  morning,  near  M.,  I  brought 
down  an  English  B.-E.  biplane. 

October  26,  1916 
About  4 :  45  seven  of  our  machines, 
of   which   I   had    charge,    attacked 
some  English  biplanes  west  of  P. 

I  attacked  one  and  wounded  the 
observer,  so  he  was  unable  to  fire  at 

201 


AN  AVIATOR'S  FIELD  BOOK 

me.  At  the  second  attack  the  ma- 
chine started  to  smoke.  Both  pilot 
and  observer  seemed  dead.  It  fell 
into  the  second  line  English  trenchjes 
and  burned  up.  As  I  was  attacked 
by  a  Vickers  machine  after  going 
two  or  three  hundred  meters,  I  did 
not  see  this.  According  to  the  re- 
port of  Group  A.,  at  A.  o.  K.  1.,  a 
B.-E.  machine,  attacked  by  one  of 
our  one-man  machines,  had  fallen. 
This  must  have  been  mine. 


FROM  TEE  LAST  LETTER 

.  .  .  Mother  does  not  need  to 
worry  about  me;  things  are  not  so 
terrible  as  she  pictures  them.  She 
just  needs  to  think  of  all  the  expe- 


AN  AVIATOR^S  FIELD  BOOK 

rience  I  have  had  at  this  work,  not 
to  mention  our  advantage  in  knowl- 
edge of  how  to  fly  and  shoot. 


Telegram  from  the  front.* 

''October  28,  1916,  7:  30  in  the  eve- 
ning. 

''Prepare  parents:  Oswald  mor- 
tally injured  to-day  over  German 
lines.  Wilhelm/^ 

*  To  his  sister. 


203 


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